Acme Egg-Grading Scales
Acme scales were manufactured by Specialty Manufacturing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. The company, founded by William Boss in 1919, still exists in Centerville, Minn.
Production of the egg scale started around 1924 when the US patent number 1,499,153 was issued; although “Patent Pending” scales are known to exist. After getting the patent, the words “PAT. JUNE 24, 1924” were proudly inscribed on every Acme.
The first models had an aluminum vertical guide with eight slots for fins, with engraved weight- per-dozen on each fin. The egg causes the fins to raise to measure egg weight; so this is a weight-lifting type of mechanism.
At the 1933-34 Chicago Worlds Fair, Specialty Mfg introduced a flanged vertical guide with the weights per dozen engraved on the flange. The aluminum base was also made narrower.
Eleven variations in weight range and graduation have been identified as Specialty made graders to match various grading standards. Standards for what weight constituted the various sizes (small, medium, large, etc.) varied both across the country and over the years.
- American Poultry Association (APA): 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30
- Atlantic: 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30
- California: 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 23½, 25, 26
- Canada: 18, 20, 22, 22½, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30
- Colorado: 15, 17, 19, 20½, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28
- Pacific: 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
- Unknown: 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30
- Unknown: 18, 20, 22½, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32
- Unknown: 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32
- Unknown: 18, 20, 22½, 23½, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30
- Unknown: 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26
- Unknown: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30
Please use Contact Us if you have questions or additional information.
A detailed history is available in Charley Amsbaugh, North American Egg Scales from ABC to Zenith, ECKO House Publishing, 2011, scale 3.
Also see: Robert Jibben, “Acme Egg Grading Scale,” Equilibrium, Issue No. 1, 2008, pp. 3330-3334. (CLICK HERE to read this article posted by the Newman Numismatic Portal on the Internet Archive website. It opens in a new window.)