What is this machine ?

A steam room alternative to hot rocks and water?

I'm sure this has already been said, and, apparently, my steam guess was wrong, so, in keeping along that line of thinking ... a humidifier?

nitroman84 said:

Possibly an evil death machine?

An old "refrigerated" source of air consisting of a block of dry ice at the base with the cold air (and gasses of CO2) distributed from the six hoses. Put it in a closed room, it will cool it down, ergo, an early (very early) air conditioner.

The gauges are an indication of the amount of dry ice (and resultant pressure from its evaporation) left in the cylinder. Possibly a separate chamber for each hose containing a chunk of dry ice hence a gauge for each hose and, also, allowing selective cooling to be achieved depending on the pressure indicated by each gauge and commensurate hose placement.