Hi Gary
I believe the plate mounted to the spindle on the vertical slide is for mounting a gear train to enable dividing. The fact that there is a plunger or detente fixed to the plate confirms this IMHO.
In fact, after looking at Lawrence Sparey's book "The Amateur's Lathe", pages 178 & 9 figures 195 & 6 the very thing is shown as a photo and as an engineering drawing.
The book is available S/H on a well known auction site for under a tenner. Dad bought my copy for 21 shillings in 1970!
The book and the dividing head are both useful bits of kit.
HTH
Dave
Edited By David Davies 8 on 27/02/2022 21:39:51