Is it magnetic, or are the buttons steel so that they would stick to a magnet? If so its a good chance you found a "portable pocket to encase an auto injector", whatever the hell that is.
Edit- oh wait, that's the wrong date. I am wrong. But try Google Patents. It's gotta be in there someplace.
Whites Spectrum XLT, Garrett AT Pro, Macro pinpointer, Garrett carrot pinpointer,
Lesch digger, Nel Tornado coil for ATPro, Garret ATMax with Nel Tornado coil
Close, but I think 259,558 is closer. (The '558 patent drawing is shown 90-deg opposite from the photo.)
"Jgas'" photo is missing the c' pin of the '318 patent, and has what looks to be the electrical contacts of '558, instead of the screw holes shown on '318.
That said -- to me, it's not conclusive either way.
Having the patent mark on the clip itself would seem to make more sense for the '318 patent (as THAT is the essential part), whereas on the '558 it is less clear that the contacts are the essential part of the invention (i.e, the clip itself and not the panelboard arrangement of said clips).
And just to fully flush it out, we're all assuming the year is 1882, and patented in the United States.
Reasonable assumptions, yes - but not necessarily so.
Thanks for all the replies. It was found in northern Indiana. So I would assume it’s patented in the US. But who knows. These are all good suggestions on it. Jgas.