It’s a caret indicator, also known as a ‘meter indicator’ or ‘meter movement’, used in navigation devices and on slide rules to indicate two states - a ‘value’ and a ‘register’, where the register state is indicated inside the box, and the value by whatever the arrow edge is pointing to. In a slide rule application, two independently movable bars are contained within the area of the symbol, with the pointer side used to select values on a scale, and the register ‘box’ side showing the results according to slide bar positioning.
It is also commonly used in compass devices to indicate a direction/bearing set by the user as a waypoint, and in digital navigation systems common at the time, would often be used in combination with the filled-in version to indicate course accuracy - when filled, the navigator is on-course, when emptied, a correction must be made.
There are also archaic physical versions of this symbol in the form of paper clips which can slide along the edge of a form, indicating the next step of a form for a department or staff member to be working on.
It was also used to indicate end of line positions in IBM typewriters, as mentioned by others in this thread.
It is also commonly used in compass devices to indicate a direction/bearing set by the user as a waypoint, and in digital navigation systems common at the time, would often be used in combination with the filled-in version to indicate course accuracy - when filled, the navigator is on-course, when emptied, a correction must be made.
There are also archaic physical versions of this symbol in the form of paper clips which can slide along the edge of a form, indicating the next step of a form for a department or staff member to be working on.
It was also used to indicate end of line positions in IBM typewriters, as mentioned by others in this thread.
So, a general purpose cursor/caret indicator…