Does anyone know what sort of machine or stand this was fitted to?

Text reads: Side 1
Parker Kalon Corp
NY USA

Side 2
Hyro Metal Punch XX
Drop Forged Steel

and

Patd  mmmmmmmmmmmmm 21.10 maybe

Rivets or grommets depending on which dies were installed.

Designed to hang from a tooltender rope and be used with the fabric in a vertical orientation.

Eyelets for laces in shoes???

The only reference I could find:

Heating & Air Conditioning Contractor: HAC.: Volume 27 - 1936

"small investment of $5.90 (FOBNY) which buys not only the long famous Hyro Metal Punch . . . but a set of 7 Punches and 7 Dies, ... $5.90 (FOBNY) Buys this Complete Outfit PRODUCT OF PARKER-KALON"

So, perhaps for sheet ductwork fabrication?

I don't really know about this one.
But I need a rivet setter!
I have set a lot of rivets by hand in my life. A lot.
I have some freehand tools, and a whole lot of hammers, even made a few hand sets, and I am not that bad at it.

  But a framed or ram rivet set? well it seems like a I need one.
   Or several. 
I set rivets in leather and rivets in sheet metal and rivets in tool handles and that is just for a start.
What kind of rivet setter(s) am I looking for, guys?
 
I know they are out there, and if I knew just what I wanted, I recon I could hunt it down sooner or later.
So what am I looking for?
  Most widely versatile rivet setter?
yours Scott

A link to a 960 Whitney-Jensen Punch No. 5 JR - Machinist Punch with Case I sold on Ebay a few months ago - very similar.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120839048912#ht_500wt_969

Very similar to the tools used to set rivets on brake shoes for very early antique cars. But I agree with Aunt Phil, just because that answer "looks right" for the shape of this too...to me.

This maybe the patent:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=sZ1PAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=punch&hl=en&sa=X&ei=f7ugT4K2K-aQ2QXb-OnGCQ&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=punch&f=false

I found another model from the same company here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/97870802/parker-kalon-antique-metal-punch-no-o-x?ref=v1_other_1

Bus,
I used to use one just like the boxed-unit in your photo nearly every day, when I was a sheet metal worker. We punched holes in sheet metals for rivets or screws. "Tin-benders" called these tools: "Whitney Punches," since the most popular brand was "Roper Whitney."

By the way, the first thing we all did, when we bought a Whitney Punch new, was to order an extra set of dies in the 9/64" size, which was not included with the set. Obviously, this is just slightly bigger than 1/8," and we used 9/64" for the most common blind rivet size which was 1/8." If you used the 1/8" die set to punch the hole there wasn't enough clearance, so you had to really force the rivet into the hole, which was a PITA, and took too long. ("Blind" rivets are usually called "pop" rivets today).

But during my time bending tin, I never saw any rivet-setting dies for a Whitney Punch, and we did set a lot of rivets. Obviously, we used pop rivet guns most of all, but when we needed solid rivets or copper or brass rivets, we simply used a hammer and a buck to set them. Keep in mind that rivets often have to be installed many inches away from any edge, so even if you did have some kind of rivet setting dies for the hand tool in the OP's photo, it wouldn't do you any good except on your first rivet on a seam, because the throat wouldn't be deep enough.

On the other hand, at home I have thousands of old solid and hollow rivets, in brass, steel, aluminum, and copper. And my dad left me his rivet tool which used them to fasten brake linings and clutch linings for antique cars. (I even have his old rolls of asbestos brake lining.  :-0) That tool has a flat bottom, so it will stand alone on a workbench and can be operated with one hand, while the other hand holds the shoe and brake lining. I'll see if I can dig it out and take a photo when I get home.