This is an example of a pedal-powered grinder produced by Deering in the late 19th-century. Using the simple combination of a grindstone turned by the operation of foot-pedals, this device was designed to sharpen the blades of mowing machines.
Devices of this sort were first developed in the mid-1800s to provide an easy means of maintaining the sickle sections of the new harvesting machines that were being increasingly adopted on farms across North America. This allowed these considerably expensive machines to maintain optimum performance while using minimum draft.