Coffin Magneto?

[phonium]

Sold for $80. It looks to me like the magneto inside a coffin telephone, so if it is that seems like a very good price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Brass-Gear-Hand-Crank-Single-Bar-Magneto-Walnut-Base-12-034-x5-034-w-x7-034-t-/164366805546

[HowardPgh]

My guess is that it is is from a quack medical shocker device. Other guess would for an educational demonstration for science class.
I love that open brassworks and gear stuff.

[FABphones]

Sold for $80. It looks to me like the magneto inside a coffin telephone, so if it is that seems like a very good price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Brass-Gear-Hand-Crank-Single-Bar-Magneto-Walnut-Base-12-034-x5-034-w-x7-034-t-/164366805546

When the link goes dead no one will have a clue what was being discussed so here is a screenshot from the listing folks....

Looks like a demo piece to me.

[RB]

Yeah, that was an instructural piece.
notice the flat horseshoe magnet?

[ReneRondeau]

I agree with Howardpgh. It is totally identical to the magneto in my Davis & Ritter Electric Machine for Nervous Disorders, right down to the hole in a corner of the brass frame. Here's mine with another photo from the eBay auction. Check out the details.

[RB]

Ok, so that's too cool!
A medical device, or the guts of one, mounted to a display board, for exhibition...
I like
Where are the connection points?
I can't see them in either pic.

[Jim Stettler]

Quack medical devices are cool. people collect them. there were many electric medical cures before regulation, the medical claims of renewed health  were the most likely cause of regulation.
JMO,
Jim

[ReneRondeau]

Where are the connection points?
I can't see them in either pic.

You can see them in my machine at the right, and the lower left. On the right there is a screw leading from the frame to a knurled nut on the side of the box. On the left, there is a flat piece of brass with a 90 degree angle that goes between the screw and other knurled nut, and the tip of a small shaft connected to the spinning electromagnets to complete the circuit.

It puts out an impressive shock when you hold brass tubes wired to the connection points. It starts out slow, and the intensity increases with the speed of cranking. Very quickly the effect becomes extremely uncomfortable. I've never known anyone to hold on for more than 5-6 seconds.