what is a dial&button box?

I’ve read the glut-specification and there is a dial & button box explained as “A sophisticated input device consisting of a pad of buttons and an array of rotating dials, often used by computer-aided design programs.”
But I still haven’t got a clue what it looks like (especially the word ‘dial’ cofusses me a bit). I’ve searched google for a photograph of such a device but haven’t found one.
Could someone explain me what this is? And is it wide-spread? (what about spaceballs? has anybody got one?)

Thanks in advance.

Button boxes are mini keypads often used for
special functions in CAD applications. Sort of like if you had a separate numeric keypad for a financial application.

Dial boxes have what looks like a bunch of light dimmer dials on them. Each dial might be used to spin an object around a specific axis.

These devices are often much faster to use after a bit of training than a menu selection followed by a mouse operation.

Oh yeah, this page has some pictures.
http://www.inflab.bme.hu/hwsw/cadlab.html

Ah, thanks a lot.