I found this in a friends basement he was cleaning out and am trying to find out what it is.
It looks sort of like a key and has a moveable dial on the side that register 1/2 a degree with each turn of the shaft stickiing out of the end. the dial on the front can be rotated to a new postion to use as a reference point. markings on front are LS Starrett Athol Mass USA pat april 13 1897 pat mar 28 1905
I did a google search and came up empty
thanks; Jimmy