It appears very "Edison-esque" in it's construction and design. A machine for lapping/sharpening cylinder shaving jewels?
I'm guessing the disc is a lapping stone.
I saw a similar machine a few years ago and it puzzled me. As far as i know it is made for shaving wax disc's, the carriage moves and shaves across the rotating disc clamped onto the platter , and the shavings fall down into drawer at the bottom.
These wax records were used on machines like the "homophone" and various different french wax disc recording machines made for home/ temporary recordings. Here is an example of one of these machines
This machine was used to erase the Ronéophone discs. Created by Pathé and Ronéo in 1911, the Ronéophone was designed to record and play reusable thick wax discs. It has an electric motor and two diaphragms, the recorder and the reproducer, similar to those of the Pathé cylinder phonographs. Wax discs measure 7 inches in diameter and ½ inches thick.
Julien.
Yes, the Ronéophone is designed for office work. You can see in this picture its different features of a dictation machine. It is quite rare, as is the disc shaver.