Antique Projector/Enlarger

"My brother John spotted this large piece of equipment, believing it to be a camera and knowing my interest in photography, he convinced me to purchase it. When I examined the contraption and did some research work online, it was clearly NOT a camera because the front lens does not have a shutter and there are three differently sized concentric flap-down opening doors at the back, presumably to cater for different sized plate slides, and a large 8” diameter outside swivel lens to the rear. The base consists of a large timber waist-high cabinet on wheels and on the inside it has a heavy weight to counterbalance the large rear lens and arm. Seemingly this is an adapted version of a solar enlarger patented by D.A. Woodward in 1874, where the sun was used as a light source. In the early twentieth century it would be lit with an electric light bulb source. I remember seeing a picture of what seems to be an identical projector, being used on the exhibition stage of the former RDS lecture theatre, now used as the Dail chamber. If indeed it happens to be the same piece, it could be a great connection with the past. "