But I'm interested in that gear with the graduated stops. Any idea what it was used for?

gears and levers. I will have to go inside to see the other side.


I've never been sure if it is some type of machine, or an act of fantasy.

Look at the large wheel.

That's the "count wheel" used on a clock that chimes on the hour. Notice the notches get farther apart as you go around the wheel. There's an arm whose purpose is to stop the chime from chiming. When it's in one of these notches, it's doing its job. A second arm is there to pick up the first arm. When that occurs two things happen: the chime starts doing its thing, and the count wheel starts turning. It turns until the chime has sounded enough times; when that happens, the stop arm falls into a notch and the noise stops.

http://mb.nawcc.org/showwiki.php?title=Count_Wheel_Basics

Nice job, as usual.