All:

This was from my late grandfather’s house. It is old, I know that. It has a detachable handle. Anyone know what it is???

Beautiful looking old machine. I don't know what it is.

When you turn the handle, a series of gears eventually turns the circular wheel. Very well built.

Old fashioned electric fence sharger. You connect the wires and sit there all day and crank the magneto.

In other words I dunno.

At a guess I would think it is for rewinding tape of some type.

WAG but I'd say home made considering the spool is made of what looks like aluminum and newer than the rest of the gearing(steel) and the handle looks to be a replacement from the original.
Jury-rigged from other bits to make something handy.

Does the final driven wheel spin very rapidly, or very slowly as in a winch?

I remember as a kid about 1960 the neighboring farm had a hand driven six inch by one inch grinding wheel which was geared up like that. It had a fairly heavy flywheel, so you could spin it up and do a bit of light grinding work on the stored energy. Or you could have a second party there to steadily turn the crank.

"Sharger" - didn't know you were Swedish.

The beads on the spool are interesting.

I think the handle will foul with whatever was being fed onto to spool judging by the position of the hole in the box.

""Sharger" - didn't know you were Swedish. smile "

Not so many Swedes but I've been up here with the Norwegians and Finns too long for a Irishman (If only a quarter). But I did learn the right way to say Sako.

Hmmmmmm?

In WV we call them Say-Ko. Everywhere else I've been they are called Sock-O. I can't bring myself to call mine anything but Say-Ko.

Is that a keyhole in the drum. as in to anchor the end of something such as a surveyer's very long tape measure??????????

Spent a lot of time talking with the now departed local 'smith. Said Say-ko exactly once.

looks like one of them old music boxes that played metal discs when you cranked it. Except the gearing is turned sideways. That fly wheel dont looks like it belongs to the original box, hears and crank like someone posted about.

It looks something like the old "medical" devices made to administer mild electric shocks sold towards the end of the 19th century.
Does it have two holes in the box for electrode wires?

Polish winder. Dohhh dohhhh dohhhh dohhhh dohhhh!...

Looks like some kind of a winch. Interesting old piece of equipment.

my granddad had a couple of those in his shop down in West Virginia....

One cranked clock wise and the other cranked counter clockwise...

The clock wise cranker, was a thing-a ma-jig...

The counter clock wide cranker was a Thing-a-ma-Bob

If the box was made out of metal, instead of wood, then that was called Do-Hicky

If the box was made out of light weight aluminum, that that was called a Whatcha-ma-Call-it...

They were used in making a Right Twix and a Left Twix...

the Do-Hicky and the Whatcha-ma-Call-it were used in putting them together in final assemlby in the packaging...

The Do-Hicky was used to put the Right Twix with the Left Twix..

the Whatcha-ma-Call-it was used to putting the Left Twix, with the Right Twix....

I tell ya.. some of you guys just know nothin' do ya!

This was my first thought too, the original TENS units. My brother has one he bought at auction. The quality of welding on the aluminum spool isn’t contemporary with the rest of the device. I’m guessing it was originally a hand-cranked generator of some sort that was repurposed, the magneto replaced with a spool to wind something up.

Just a crazy shot in the dark.
Partly based on your location.

Could it have been used for shot wire.

Was he a miner?

It looks like an old hand cranked telegraph register.

They came with a spool, and some were hand cranked.

I don’t have a clue. I prefer say-ko

I'd have put the hole on the other side. Meaning, it may have already been there before the Al spool was added.

Not sure what the entire mechanism is supposed to accomplish other than spool something up.....wire, string? The gear box with the crank is off an old Victrola-type phonograph, the springs are contained in the metal cups under the large gear. The crank winds up the springs which will power the spool.
Being you're in the U.P., my WAG is it might have been built as a reel for deep water ice fishing, I've seen some unique set ups in Munising Bay ice shanties!

Now we're getting somewhere.

I thought it looked like something re-purposed. The spool is clearly not up to the grade of the works. Appears to be a keyhole slot in the spool for connecting whatever is being wound up. Don't see a free-spool dingus or ratchet; maybe under the spool?

Clothesline reel.

What Idaho_ Shooter said--- The first glance at the photo of the box reminded me of the old wooded boxes surveyors instruments were stored in. There is a special way one hand throws ( rolls up a steel tape ) by hand in a figure 8 shape then snaps it into a circular shape. This would just roll the tape up. The eye in the drum looks like it was made to accept the leather thong at the end of the tape.

It's sah-ko, but in this age of "common usage", anything goes, so say say-ko if it makes you happy. I doubt that hordes of disgruntled Finns will descend on your house demanding you repent.

So, what was it originally AND what was the repurposed purpose?

Seiko, like a watch?

Fish line winder.

I suspect steel line for deep water fishing.

Is there a hole in the bottom of the box?

I've seen one of those at some time in the past. I didn't know what it was then, either.

Yup, you tend to see a lot of things in a 500 year span...........

And if you do it up right handed, you better let it down right handed. Seems it would be more trouble than it would be worth for a measuring tape. Easy to put up and throw, by hand. miles

what do you want for it?

It ain't a surveying tool.

Not stout enough.

Surveyors would tear it up, strip the gears, and spill beer all inside...

Pretty complicated looking to just wind a tape or cord of some kind-- neat tho

Bob wire fence stretcher.

Any chance you grandfather was a teacher of some sort and this was made to illustrate basic mechanics of gearing?
Or a sales prop for someone to show clients?

All in all I have no clue.

No idea, but the vertical plate between the gear mechanism and the spool Looks like it is made to slide out without much effort. I wonder if the whole rig is made to slide out to change different spools for some purpose. That would allow for the spool appearing to be an independent part from the rest of the set up.
From the hole in the spool it looks like it would turn forward and down when the handles is turned. I wonder about the gear ratio too. It also looks like a dust cover or Id plate may have covered the gears at on time.

As someone already stated it started life as Victrola Guts....

What it is NOW, you would need to ask the tinkerer....

Drunken Ruffians...........

That is pretty interesting. So If that’s it, the spool is not a direct drive from the crank. Instead Appears the crank loads a coil spring and the spool turns from the spring tension without having to turn the handle while Loading the spool. Somebody with a good imagination it looks like if it is indeed a repurpose effort.

If you visit the factory, in Finland, they say "Welcome to Sock-Oh". Similarly, if you travel up the road a bit, you will hear "Welcome to Lap-Wah"

Poor Fins. You'd think someone would educate them on how to pronounce their words.

Yep, that's what is called "throwing a chain". The steel tape was 66 feet in length, one chain. Ten square chains = one acre. A more modern surveyor might have used a hundred-footer. Now I think they all use lasers. Throwing a chain took a little practice, but once you got the hang of it it was easy. Key is to take up the chain in equal lengths before trying to throw it. No surveyor would have wanted or needed anything as convoluted as the OP's item in order to store a chain. A simple reel or throwing it would suffice.

I will take better pics of it and maybe a video if I can post it here.

Now they all use GPS.

It's too flimsy for a wire stretcher. For a good tight wire, I have one of these that's been in the family for many years. It's not on the original rope.


These also work very well although with this you have to pull most of the slack out before you can hook it up. The block and tackle will pull a lot more slack.

Miles---- Yes once ya get the hang of it it's easy, but there is someone always wanting to reinvent the wheel.
Looks handmade -- Gurley would not put out anything that rough.

A rotary motion redirector.

With the optional force compounder.

Clearly. Duh.

That's probably right. Another way for them to get away with not marking the lines. Take the easiest roundabout route to set or locate the corners, then the person needing to know where the line runs has to hire another surveyor or run it himself using good ol' bearings and distances.

Left handed Zip wheel

It's a Turbo Encabulator

It’s a flux’s capacitor???

It is a "Space Box".

Ancient Alien theorists say that it was accidently left behind after a UFO landed. Accidentally dropped by a Martian.

Depending on the size of the box, I was thinking field Communications wire real.

My dad would say it's a gawddamnedwhadayacallit.
But I could be wrong.

"Get away with"?

I see there's some confusion on what a survey is, and what a surveyor does.

A survey is a reflection of legal markers on the ground to mark said property, along with supporting documents, legal description, and accompanying signed and sealed plat.

Of course I would have my crews cut down brush along property lines, and even set points online so that land owners who can't read survey maps can find their way to the back corners... .....for a price.

Had one guy call up and complain that he couldn't "find the string".

Ummm... What string, Sir?

"You know, the survey string between the points on the front to the back. That's what a survey is."

Ummm... No. That's not what a survey is, but I can send my crew back out there to run some string for about $800 more. He didn't want string that badly.

A little work and that box would make a fine tackle box. Don't know what that gizmo inside is.

Don't need no crankup damned music player no more.


Oh, wait. Wind it up, attach cable, then the spool spins without the handle turning?

Had it rigged to make a moving target...

You are right- Ya got to throw into the mix--- Construction surveying and of course Highway Surveying---- and something called Mine Surveying. Different from PL Surveying,

Maybe it has been handed down within your family as a curiosity item to keep the young busy before television was common.

It would be a handy sort of thing for dropping and winding in a plumb bob, for checking verticals on masts, antennae etc. It would also be useful for winding out an retracting a large/long chalk line, for marking out straight lines on fences or construction, but it is a lot bigger than any I've seen.

If it was made or lined with lead the other thing it reminded me of is an enclosure for holding, paying out and retracting a radioactive source on a line for radiography on large heat exchangers and the like, on power stations. I rather doubt that there was a time that these were stored in an unlined wooden box though.

It'd be interesting to know where the thing really is for though.

Old style fishing reel.

Not sure what it is, but it seems immaculate.

Exactly my thoughts.

a Confusatoriator.

In 1000 years it might still confusitating folks

What'll it get on ebay?

Yeah buddy, It looks like a nice one.

I figured there would be a surveyor in the crowd that would get his hackles up over what I said! :-)) Not confused at all as to what a survey is. But there is a difference between establishing a line on a map and marking a line on the ground. My issue is that sometimes surveyors will find or establish the two points on the ground that define a line, but there is no marking of said line between the two points. I can well read a survey or a legal description, but when trying to find property line (in my case for the purpose of a timber sale), there is often no sign of the line between points. Me and my hand compass do the best we can through the jungle that is eastern NC, but if I am off by a fraction of a degree in a line of perhaps several thousand feet, or if my estimation of the distance is off, I may not find the iron at the other end of the line, especially if it is not marked either. Even if the line was shrubbed out by the surveyor, if it was done only a few years back, it may be undiscernable by the time I get there. But I have found lines that were run 50 or more years ago when the surveyors went to the minor trouble of side-chopping a few trees along the way, and marking witness trees around the irons. No string required.

If you want the line chopped between points, you need to specify in the beginning. Lots of work, costs more. miles

IMO, the gadget is wayyyy not related to surveying.

IMO it was used to hold the fairly thick line for rodless deep trolling for fish like lake trout. OP your location is UP. I know guys repurposed victrola for their Seth Green rigs on Seneca lake in Finger Lakes Region of Upstate NY. The wound up victrola would help the fisherman store the line as he pulled it up by hand without having to crank a handle all the time. No rod was used with the original system. Just a line storage system which for many was similar to a downrigger storage spool.

I had heard some guys used tricycle front rim with handles as an alternative line storage system. But that required always controlling the handle of the wheel.

While the rigging style is still used most guys use a heavy ocean style reel and rod to control the line and heavy weight.

Just texted my friend in Len in Rochester that has one. He said:

"Yup I have one still for lake trout. It is one with a double spring. It stored your fishing line. When you wanted to let it out it would wind up the spring then when you wanted to take line in you would let the spring wind it in as you pulled up the line."


Seth Green rig taken from a discussion:

It is a multiple leader (up to 5 maximum now) trolling system with the leaders spaced apart (often 20-25 ft apart) used primarily for deep water trolling for trout and salmon. A 2 -4 lb weight is at the bottom of it and a variety of depths can be trolled at a single time with just one setup so that you can have 5 lures going through say 100ft at a time. It is very effective and especially when the thermocline forms in the lakes as it can be set up to cover above below and within the thermocline itself maximizing your potential for fish of various targeted species. The Seth Green was named for it's originator who fished it first on Keuka lake in the 1800's and it is also called a "thermocline rig" or just plain "rig". He also started the first trout fish hatchery (Caledonia. NY I believe). Some folks refer to it as "meat fishing" and various other names and sometimes in a derogatory way and they sometimes say it isn't worth doing because you can't feel the fish (especially small ones) with the heavy sinker and rods etc. but my suspicion is that most of those people haven't even tried it, don't understand how to actually do it, or are too lazy to do it (it does entail some work) because it is truly a lot of fun and one of my favorite ways to fish out of all the fresh and salt water fishing techniques.

more:
https://www.libraryweb.org/~rochhist/v6_1944/v6i3.pdf

For dropping the “cannonball” in a down rigger. you attach your line to to troll for lakers in the finger lakes.

Takes a lot less line. When the fish strikes, it pulls away from the Down rigger.

It is I fact a part of a Victrola. The spring helps to bring the downrigger back up.

Winds a tape to measure tank level.

dick stretcher.

That's what I do if I am involved in ordering the survey, but most of the time the survey was done years prior to my involvement; in fact, quite often the survey I'm looking at is of the adjoining property. Honestly, I don't see how it costs any more to slap a few chops along the way if you are shrubbing the line out anyway. Otherwise, yes, it should be understood at the outset whether or not the line is going to be marked or merely established. I understand that, but I'm not sure whether surveyors explain all it to their clients or not.

RAS....it used for deep water trolling......fIgured after growing up on the East Side you would know what that is......Was your grandfather a fisherman, fished on the Detroit or St. Clair River don't know of any other places that they were used....
It was made from a old crank up Victrola record player....lock the paw on the spool crank to tighten the spring.... release the spool fill it with about 1/16" copper braided wire(now stainless steel is used)....on the end of the copper wire you put a tear drop shaped 2 pound lead weight off that a 2' piece of 30 lb line with a lure 18'" up a 15' leader with a lure 18" from that a 30' leader with a lure...its tricky not to get lines tangled coil the leaders put weight in water slowly drop weight while trolling you want to bounce the weight in a slow pumping motion with your arm never letting go or the line will go out when a walleye bites then bring in line the spring will reel the line in....
At night pencil plugs are a popular lure during the morning and late day Flatfish F4 or F5 mid-day very thin narrow 3" spoons....

This is the modern version ...........https://lakesidefishingshop.com/product/a-s-trolling-reel/

Definitely a boat anchor, now.

I have one like it of Charles Helin inventor of the Flatfish made in the 1930's....my Great-Uncle was a very good friend of his and he helped develop the Flatfish...I was taught how to fish by them in the 60's....I still use the reel it has caught 100 of tons of walleye's.....