What is this mysterious piece of equipment found in my store room?

[jfmcghee]

I just found this in my store room. Anybody have any ideas what it is?

 

[DaveE]

No. But my guess is some kind of scattering demo? You squirt something from the tube to the (spinning?) wheel and see where it goes as you move the nozzle side to side.

What do we win if we guess right. Kewpie dolls, or cash?

 

[Andy Resnick]

I just found this in my store room. Anybody have any ideas what it is?

Other than the manufacturer sticker 'Welch", I don't see any information. What's on the bottom side of the base plate?

 

[jfmcghee]

It's just flat particle board. The only thing that seems to move is the little tube along a spring loaded screw. The center seems to be just an immobile piece of glass.

 

[kith]

Reminds me of a scattering apparatus in a student lab which I tutored. There was an adjustable mechanism which shot small metal balls onto the central target. On the rim there was a special paper which acquired black dots upon impact which made angle measurements possible. The angle measurements were then used to infer information about the target.