I had my first occasion to be under our house. I believe what I've have found is a hand water well drilling outfit. The auger appears to be about 8' long, as are the few joints of pipe each. Me and my great grandparents are the only people to have ever lived here, in this house. I feel comfortable saying it was his. ALTHOUGH - it sure doesn't seem like the type of equipment you would just own and store under your house. It sure seems like it'd be more of a community tool or trade tool.
I don't KNOW that it's a water well drilling setup. It just seems logical.
(http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p534/alphinde/846471584_photobucket_97528_.jpg)
(http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p534/alphinde/846471584_photobucket_97529_.jpg)
(http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p534/alphinde/846471584_photobucket_97530_.jpg)
(http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p534/alphinde/846471584_photobucket_97532_.jpg)
Classic helical augar, single tooth, double pitch. Likely for water, unless you have oil at less than 200 ft ;P
Usable by hand with a tripod if you are desperate, works better with a truck tho.
You have to lift and empty the auger every time it fills up with dirt, so it gets slower and harder as you go past the length of the first extension pipe.....
I see no reason grandpa couldn't have been making a few extra bucks drilling wells for folks....
PS: Looks wide enough to use for telephone poles too ...
I just spoke to nanny (My gma - his daughter) and she says she has seen 4 water wells drilled with it in her lifetime....the last in the fiftiies. Says water is abt sixty feet but would sand in over time. They had a tripod setup and used a board chained to the pipe to turn it. She took me to the last three wells on the property before "city" water.
More reading required but I may want to try this.
There is a publicly available US Army manual on well drilling you might find a lot of good information in.
If you do decide to give the fun job a try make very sure you double check the drillstem. There is nothing worse than loosing an augur downhole.
Other things you might want to study up on are block & tackle, tieing off a stem with a clove hitch, and finding a large group of people who think hand drilling a hole is fun and exciting. You may find this akin to inviting over a few buddies to help you pour a few yards of concrete.