I have had this brown wooden box kicking around for a few years . It had me stumped. What is it for . ? Obviously it’s a Magneto . But that’s all I could figure out .i have now found it listed in a 1911 Tangent Catalog. It’s actually a Pegging Station for a Tell Tale Clock. Apparently they were used for long cable runs up to a mile away from the clock . Due to the limitations of the normal Leclanché cells in use at the time and voltage drop over a long cable run . Gents come up with these Magneto Generators to solve the problem. The night watchmen had a key that he carried round with him . Inserting the key in the side and cranking the handle. That sent a charge back to to Tell Tale Clock to mark the ribbon.
unfortunately the key is missing . But a interesting item
Priced at 25 Shillings at the time . Andy