A manual pulse generator (1) attached to the control panel of a machine tool made up of: a spindle mechanism for holding a tool; a workpiece mounting mechanism; a feed mechanism for moving the spindle mechanism relative to the workpiece mounting mechanism along three orthogonal X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis paths, a control device for controlling the feed mechanism, a control panel having control keys and a keyboard for inputting various types of data to the control device, and a display for displaying on a screen control state resulting from the control device. The manual pulse generator (1) is provided with a control section (11) for inputting a pulse signal to the control device, and a light-emitting diode (15) for illumination, which is provided on an upper surface thereof to emit light upwardly, and which lights only when a pulse signal can be input to the control device.