I can't wait to hear an explanation or ideas for this one. lol! I notice there are 10 digits on the left and 7 on the right. There must be some significance to that. lol!

Does the roller turn?

...and what triggers the numbers incrementing?

tj

I assume that each digit would be set by hand. Why are the numbers semi-hidden in such an oddly shaped wooden structure?

Kinda need more pictures of the business ends.

The rollers turn. Each one individually and by hand. The only reason the numbers seem semi-hidden is due to the pictures you are looking at. The first one that shows it horizontal is the business end and you see the numbers through that window. It just happens that I didn't have them all lined up exactly right. If I had lined them up, each number would be clearly visible.

The second picture, taken from the top, is just showing how the wheels are situated in the box that holds them.

I can't see how this was ever mechanically moved or calibrated. There are no attached gears, or holes, or attachments that would lead one to believe these were somehow moved other than individually and by hand.

well...it is meant to display numbers. And those numbers may change and can be arranged by hand...not automatically.
Now the question is why and where and who?
Are all the numbers on each "wheel"? Would the numbers that are on a particular wheel give any clues?

The more I look at the construction of the box compared to the numbers, it seems like a marriage. The numbers seem too elegant (for lack of a better term) for that box.

tj

All of the numbers are on each wheel. The wheels are all the same in construction and color and numbers. The box construction does seem less elegant. However, the wheels fit the construction so well (no lose items anywhere) that I think they were meant to be together. The wheel has a dividing partition as shown in the picture. I now notice that numbers on the wheels on the far right of each division, especially the last two wheels, have very little paint wear. This would support this as some type of numbering system, as those on the far right the largest numbers. Perhaps this was meant to count two different items at the same time.

Its an odometer for Flintstone's log car, or a score board for a really long basketball game. No, wait. Its a counter for a hobbyist corn sheller. The 7 digit counter is to count cobs and the 10 digit one is the number of kernels. Ha, its obvious that I don't know either!

I was ready to type soapstone! Or, marble! ;)

Trying to think of systems which use 7 or 10 digits--phone numbers before and after area codes were added? I remember when my grandparents' party line phone exchange was PR8 as in PR8-xxxx, which later became 778-xxxx.

When I first saw it, I counted the 10 and 7 digits and immediately thought of a motor vehicle ID -- it is 17 characters, but it includes digits and alphabetic characters, so that's not it. ;^)

The only other thing I can think of is it being a counter for "number served" -- the 10 digits could count hamburgers and the 7 digits could count something else. lol!

Where or how did you acquire it?!

I wondered if it was something to aid in keeping track of numbering things where people who were not completely illiterate could look at the board and copy the number. While not that long one of the restaurants that I was taken to as a child used a four number system where each waitress was assigned a number. When that waitress's order was ready someone behind the counter would key something so the waitress's number would show in a box placed near the ceiling. The owner considered that better than a bell or yelling out an order was ready.

Thanks for all the ideas. I picked this up at a second hand store in a small rural town in Nebraska.

Rural Nebraska. Could it have had something to do with the operation of a grain elevator?

Grain elevator is a decent idea. I'll have to get ahold of one of those old time operators and see if it looks familiar to him.