Originally developed at Imperial College, London, the apparatus comprises a two-column fixed crosshead frame and a hand operated hydraulic jack.

Pressure applied by the jack extends the piston carrying the lower conical point. The upper point is fixed to the crosshead with a scale mounted on the frame to provide specimen diameter information for use in point load strength index calculations.
Pressure is indicated directly on the digital readout unit. Loads up to 55 kN can be applied to specimens as large as 101.6 mm in diameter.