Identify this steampunkish gizmo

[robkelk]

Copied with permission from http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=113575:

According to our local newspaper, this gizmo was found in the attic of a high school (Gymnasium) in Augsburg, Germany:

http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/aug ... 27316.html

It is about 100 years old, was apparently built by one J. M. Ekling, and has some unspecified similarities to Carl Friederich Gauss' magnetometer, but also many unspecified differences.

It has two spirit levels, an object lens, a pendulum and two magnetic coils.

If anyone has an idea about what it was used for, they can send a one-page e-mail to simone.kuehling@augsburg.de . There's even a 1000-euro award!

--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

Honestly, I'd have to fiddle around with it in person. Knowing what it is similar to and what some of its features are tell me very little, except what I might try doing with it. After all, it's what it does with those features that is the real point.
EDIT: Sudden epiphany: knowing the features of a device well in advance may very well only limit you.  Always strive to keep an open mind.

[Dragonflight]

Sadly, I have no scientific training, and couldn't identify this in a hundred years.
All that came to me after researching Mr. Eckling, and discovering he was big into telegraph and radio communications was if this could be some kind of wireless telegraph device. But that doesn't make sense, because there's no way to close a spark-gap and send a radio pulse. Oh well.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.