This microscope is signed "Hawkins and Wale, New York", and is attributed to George Wale, a noted microscope manufacturer in New York and Patterson, New Jersey. The identity of Hawkins is unknown. The model featured below was redrawn from photographs of the original microscope, which is part of the Billings microscope collection at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC.

The instrument has an unusual spiral slide that is used for coarse focus adjustment, an original with Wale, which was exhibited at the International Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. In 1879, he devised mechanical improvements in the method of inclining the microscope that were later adopted by Swift & Son in London. The claw foot is reversed has has a spread of five and a quarter by seven inches. A stage plate is hinged to a plate on the axis and has a screw spring clamp for a glass stage plate with a slide bar. Fine focus is achieved with a micrometer screw on the limb. A curved arm is used to support the body tube and is fastened to the base with a pivot. The substage condenser lies underneath the stage and a double mirror rides on a flat tailpiece.

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