There is some sort of attachment in your initial post, but nothing opens when I click on it. It is in ".heic" image format, which can be difficult for some apps to read. I have several and none will open it. Try converting it to JPG format and inserting it as an image.
I believe there are a number of varieties of these indicators with levers. I had one, from my father's stuff, that I didn't know what it was until I looked at it more carefully. It is a "dial comparator", in my case "BC Ames Co.". It reads to 0.0001". It didn't work at all well, so I sent it in to Ames and they refurbished it. Old technology but still made. New, they sell for substantial sums, $700 or so. They can be found on eBay quite reasonably, under $100. I picked on up that has as 0.001" resolution.
They have a very precision tension for measuring based on certain standards. The lever allows the spindle to be raised and the part to be measure placed on the platen and the lever lowered. In my case, I had them NOT put in the spring, so the spindle lowers by gravity only, because I didn't want the bamboo to be crushed. Metal objects are not likely to be altered, even by light spring tension.
I use the first one on a planing machine for making bamboo fly rods where it is used to measure the height of a 5-foot long "anvil" or support, every five inches for setting the taper for the rod. The anvil height is set at these increments by "push/pull" screws, rising from one end to the other. After the anvil height is set, the bamboo is secured on the anvil and the planing device removes surface bamboo from individual strips to impart the taper into the bamboo. Last photo shows the planing machine set up, but without a strip of bamboo in place on top of the anvil.
I've seen pictures of micrometers with levers, which I take to be similar, sort of inspection devices.
A viewable image of yours would be very helpful.
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