Name: Grip Test - 握力計 (grip force meter)
Year: imported ~1937, originally 1927
Company: Jentzsch & Meerz [presumed]
The above photo shows the Grip Test as it appears in the ~1937 日本娯楽商報 catalogue.
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| ~1937 日本娯楽商報 catalogue entry |
錢入口へ一錢入れて片手でハンドルを力一バイ握るさ共力量を正面のゲージに現はし同時に五色の豆電球がつきます
附屬鐵鑄物臺御入用なれば別に贰拾圓申受けます
Machine translation:
When you put a coin into the coin slot and squeeze the handle firmly with one hand, the amount of force you put in is displayed on the gauge in front of you, and at the same time a five-colored miniature light bulb lights up.
If you need the attached iron plate, we will accept a separate purchase order.
The first iteration of this design was 1904, with the Grip Test Lung Test by Caille in USA.
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| 1904 Caille Grip Test Lung test |
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| center dial says "GRIP TEST LUNG TEST" 1904 Caille Grip Test Lung test |
Then there was a Grip Test released in 1910, as most lung machines were destroyed thanks to Tuberculosis.
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| 1910 Grip Test by Caille |
This machine is closer in design than what we see in the Japanese catalogue, but the coin slot plate at the top is still different.
Later Caille versions (I'm told) would have the circular panels on the left and the right, replacing those vertical rectangles.
There is one version that matches the Japanese catalogue precisely:
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| Globus grip tester Jentzsch & Meerz, 1927 |
What we see in the catalogue has all of the metal accents found in the German version above, except with the graphics used by Caille on the USA side.
Unless further examples come forward, I feel we have to assume this is the Jentzsch & Meerz version imported into Japan, with the English labels.
The only thing the Japanese model has that I have not seen on any other is a metal badge on the left:
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