attachment for?

[john k]

These pieces came in a box of ,,, well, junk.   Figure its an alignment, setup tool for something.  Box it was in had a partial label for dairy equipment?   Nicely made, hate to toss it in the iron pile.   Ideas?

[superzstuff]

I used to use something like that on a lathe to wind springs out of music wire. The rig mounted to lathe cross slide. The small rod with the adjustable pieces held the spool of wire and the wire was clamped between two slotted fixtures to tension the wire as it wound onto a rod chucked in lathe. Not sure what cast handle was for. Just a guess.