Its called a 66 block and was used alot for telephone systems. There are several configurations, iirc yours is a 66m-50.
Each row is divided in half. 25 pairs of cable could be connected to the first and last columns leading to 50 pairs. The silver clips in the middle are bridge clips, which connect the left half to the right half.
Along the right side of the block there appears to be a pair of jumper wires that go from row to row. This is connecting a signal (probably a phone line) to each of the cables on the right half of the block, and the bridge clips connect the cables on the left side
If you had multiple phone lines you could connect them to various devices with different jumpers and wires.
While it was never recommended, I made cables with an RJ-45 plug on one end and bare wire on the other and used a punch down tool to connect the cables to the 2nd and 3rd columns, then plugged them into my switches back in the 10MB days, and I think it worked OK for 100MB.
There is a 66 block made with RJ-45 jacks that you might be able to replace that with, and use jumper cables. The correct block to use would be a 110 block, or even better would be to connect directly to a patch panel id you have enough slack.
Its called a 66 block and was used alot for telephone systems. There are several configurations, iirc yours is a 66m-50.
Each row is divided in half. 25 pairs of cable could be connected to the first and last columns leading to 50 pairs. The silver clips in the middle are bridge clips, which connect the left half to the right half.
Along the right side of the block there appears to be a pair of jumper wires that go from row to row. This is connecting a signal (probably a phone line) to each of the cables on the right half of the block, and the bridge clips connect the cables on the left side
If you had multiple phone lines you could connect them to various devices with different jumpers and wires.
While it was never recommended, I made cables with an RJ-45 plug on one end and bare wire on the other and used a punch down tool to connect the cables to the 2nd and 3rd columns, then plugged them into my switches back in the 10MB days, and I think it worked OK for 100MB.
There is a 66 block made with RJ-45 jacks that you might be able to replace that with, and use jumper cables. The correct block to use would be a 110 block, or even better would be to connect directly to a patch panel id you have enough slack.