I used Hunter and other brand hand-held spring scales when I worked in a vehicle manufacturer's engineering labs for some years after 1963 until moving to the design area. They were handy for many odd jobs like how much force is required to push a gas pedal down or to release a door handle. We called them fish scales. I know of no better or simpler tool for the purpose, though we also made and used electronic devices with foil strain gages for some force measurements, especially for large forces.
The tie bar thing looks like a very narrowly specialized device that I have never seen before. In this device, the term strain gage seems to be a functional description, not implying the use of electronic foil strain gages.
Larry