unknown mystery tool

I need your help with this one , people. I found it at an estate auction in New Jersey and was intrigued by it, hoping that someone out there in "Collector Weekly" land might know of it's use.
It is about 13" long and 4" wide. It is made of hand forged iron. It was wooden grips on the spring loaded handle. The knife guard looking piece floats freely, while the square spoon like paddles can be sprung against the square non movable part. on the looped portion of the spring has some writing on each side of the tool.
It reads: 5 PT ........ BF FAIRCHILD ......T 203 .......MLD266
On the other side, there is a band with the numbers 3054