Quick Question

[pepe]

Hello,

Does anyone have an idea what this is and what it was used for?
Thank you in advance!

[globbitz]

Hello Pepe,
Yes, it very much looks like a handheld blood or sugar / antifreeze tester. You put a drop of liquid onto the ground glass and close the two halves together, and then hold up to the light.
Adjust focus, and then read-off the percentage of sugar in the solution. It works due to the light being bent (refracted) when it passes through the solution, the higher the percentage of sugar, then the higher the reading.
There are industrial versions of this type of instrument for chemical production, drugs etc. These look like a microscope, but have tubes in and out of the block that contains the two ground-glass prisms that have a thin gap between them. Same principle to the hand-held instrument.
These instruments are called refractometers.
As to use within a military context, I'd suspect it's either a antifreeze tester, or used for medical blood-sugar testing. However, as to whether there is a difference between the two instrument uses (blood or antifreeze), I don't know, and would imagine some marking, or engraving inside the eyepiece scale.
Best regards,
Paul

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Erich B.]

Also used in the wine producing industry.
Erich

[pepe]

Thank youfor your answers, I really didn't know what this is before