This Gardner pocket microscope is a small apparatus with a 15 × 12.5 × 3 cm wooden case. It is a magnifying glass and also a compound microscope. Its support shaft is fixed to the outside of its cover by means of a screw mechanism. This axis has a transversal axis with a hole where the two magnifying glasses are successively fixed, which are screwed together. The optical tube can be used alone, or screwed onto the loupes, thus achieving the highest magnification.
The plate is round and on it is engraved the name of the manufacturer Gardner of Belfast. It moves through a rack system, raising or lowering to achieve focus since the optical tube is fixed. This «reverse approach» system would become popular at the end of the century among European manufacturers, being Schieck in 1864 the first to use it. The apparatus has two lenses, a “live box” device, tweezers and two wooden slides with six slides each.
Henry Gardner had his workshop in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He made microscopes in the period 1809 to 1835. His microscopes are not easily found.
Finally, there is the foot or stand that provides stability to the microscope.