Test weight scale

Claim 1

A portable, hand held scale for testing the bushel weight of grain comprising: a cannister of predetermined volume for receiving grain, said cannister having a lower end in the form of a cylinder and an open upper end of generally frustro-conical configuration with inclined side walls forming an angle of less than 45° with the vertical extensions of the cylindrical side walls of said lower end and terminating at the top of said cannister in a grain filling and receiving aperture lying in a horizontal plane when the scale is being used, said conical upper end and said cylindrical lower end being joined together in permanently assembled condition for all weighing operations, and said filling and receiving aperture comprising a circular opening having a diameter of an order of magnitude between one and two inches, whereby excess grain overflowing the top of said cannister through said circular opening may be struck off level with the top of the cannister with the user's finger; a slide beam joined to said cannister at one end thereof, said slide beam having weight scale increments marked along its length in a predetermined calibration based on the volume of said cannister, permitting the direct reading of the weight of the grain being tested for a particular volume, such as a bushel; weight means slidably supported on said beam for sliding movement along the length thereof, said weight means having a weight scale indicating marker thereon; and pivot support means on said beam located between said cannister and the opposite, free end of said beam, whereby said scale may be suspended from said pivot support means with said cannister filled with grain and said weight means slidably adjusted on said beam until said scale is in a balanced condition with said beam oriented substantially horizontally, the test weight of the grain being indicated by the scale increment with which said marker is aligned.