The very basic design of this brass, rubber, and iron compound microscope produced by skilled optician Edmund Hartnack around 1880 omits both a substage condenser and light-gathering mirror. The demonstration instrument can be used vertically or handheld horizontally as a solar microscope in medical classrooms.

A vulcanite rubber base doubles as the stage for this late nineteenth century instrument. Paired stage clips, which are painted to simulate brass, ensure the security of a mounted specimen when the instrument is held towards sunlight or an artificial light source. Below the stage is a disc containing five apertures that can partially control specimen illumination and resolution. The monocular instrument has no limbs, arms, or focus mechanisms and the distance between the long, low-powered objective and the stage plate is fixed. Magnification and coarse focus of the instrument may be adjusted by sliding its brass body tubes.

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