First of all, I have no idea Bruce how you can remember way back what Grandma Wurzer had, much less what it was! I’m telling you were spot on to what you guessed.
And contrary to what you all might be thinking, I’m only using this as a decorative piece in our house 🙂
Here was the clue
And here is what it is. It was the portable wringer washer for washing clothes. 
I remember it sitting in the corner of the basement of the house in town. It was fascinating for a kid from the city to wash close by hand when we visited back there. As soon as I saw the the pic it brought back that memory of turning the crank and the clothes going into the rinse water. Grandmas was mounted on a taller washtub on wheels.