I guess it would be the earliest version of an electric iron. It could have been a universal base that a standard iron would fit on. The legs, probably three, kept the heating element off the surface it was setting on. With the element on the bottom it insured that the entire base would absorb the heat from it. I don't know how to figure it from the remnants visible but it could have been made for DC power as in the Delco plant system. A bank of batteries charged by either a gasoline engine, a wind mill or waterwheel. predates the modern AC power system.