This leveling instrument dates no later than 1900 (the company’s products before the 1900s were not numbered). After World War II, the Nationalist military received American-made surveying instruments from the Japanese-occupied areas (Fujian), making this instrument quite rare. The mobile surveying team’s historical archives contain a model from the 1920s that is very similar in appearance to this instrument (Lin Chongxi, 1997), further supporting the dating of this leveling instrument.