Looks like some sort of level... pic inside

[mtds]

Leather case marked "KR".  Brass body with threaded caps. Optics inside.  A bubble level on the outside of the main tube.  What is it?  Age?  Field of use?

[jimwrench]

 Thats a Kuker-Ranken sighting level. Still for sale currently.

[rusty]

OK, I'm game, how do you look through the sight and look at the bubble at the same time?

[jimwrench]

 Maybe consequently not concurrently ?

[Lewill2]

One eye for each..........

[HeelSpur]

You'd have to be really cock-eyed to do that.

[rusty]

You surely would be after doing that.....LOL

It was a little bit of a serious question tho, I have seen small sighting glasses designed for a transit, usually there is something to hold it level after you set it up with the bubble to point at a horizon line...

I'm wondering how helpfull a bubble is on a pocket glass...

[mikeswrenches]

These are properly called a Locke level, after the gentleman that invented it.

They are hand held and are useful for quick leveling or checking level at a construction site.  Generally used where precision isn't required and you don't want to take the time to set up a builders level on a tripod.

They are a lot easier to use if you hold it against some kind of support, like a pole.

http://constructionmanuals.tpub.com/14043/css/14043_137.htm

Mike

[gibsontool]

I remember using these before the days of laser levels,they were good for quick checks on excavations and rough grades. I don,t recall the brands I worked with but they were brass and did look similar to yours

[Billman49]

see http://www.mytoolstore.com/dwhite/hand.html $68 + $14 for the case...

used on archeological digs etc where an expensive level is not needed, to expensivem or too bulky to carry, see http://www.beg.utexas.edu/coastal/thscmp/fieldprocedures.htm

[Branson]

Thats a Kuker-Ranken sighting level. Still for sale currently.

Hence the impressed KR mark on the holster.  Still made, and online:

http://www.krinc.net/17770/Kuker--Ranken-Hand-Levels.html

>OK, I'm game, how do you look through the sight and look at the bubble at the same time?

"The level vial is mounted atop a slot in the sighting tube in which a reflector is set at a 45° angle. This permits the observer, who is sighting through the tube, to see the object, the position of the level ..."

[mtds]

Thank you all for answering my question, plus the additional interesting comments!

[Papaw]

That's what we do!

[rusty]

>a reflector is set at a 45° angle

Ahhhh!