Searching for "dimensioning harpoon arrows" does not produce very many hits. Some chemistry and math and "bond graph techniques" use such short symbols,
as well as one "grain" symbol.

A better search is "dimensioning single "barb" arrow" which comes up with their use in the 1906 book "Mechanical Drawing", for "Pointers" :-)
https://books.google.com/books?id=y-A0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=dimensioning+single+%22barb%22+arrow&source=bl&ots=1vs0oz1cIT&sig=ACfU3U1lDvP0IL_5lAjR0CGNUyu2VrjJiw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN_v_siurjAhWXGjQIHbFfDDoQ6AEwE3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=dimensioning%20single%20%22barb%22%20arrow&f=false

I did see some hand drawn dimensioning in which the arrows were double barbed, but some looked almost single barbed.

In 1923, Engineering Drawing
By Harvey Herbert Jordan, page 89: "one barb leaders are NOT desirable."

Back in the day, barbs were made "free-hand" :-)


- Brian