Patent ID: 7389676

Claim:
An apparatus for testing a chicken egg, the apparatus comprising: a vessel for receiving a volume of cool fresh water sufficient to fill the vessel to a depth allowing the egg being tested to float within the volume of water, should the buoyancy of the egg being tested be such that the egg being tested would float partially or fully in the water; and indicia marked upon the vessel for determining a parameter related to the freshness of the chicken egg being tested, when the egg being tested is placed unconstrained in the volume of water, in a random orientation within the vessel, through comparison of the position and attitude assumed by the chicken egg being tested in the volume of water, with respect to the indicia; the vessel defining a bottom inside surface thereof; the indicia on the vessel including a plurality of graphical representations of an egg in a plurality of alternative positions and attitudes, with some of the plurality of graphical representations showing the egg in contact with the bottom inside surface of the vessel, some of the graphical representations showing the egg standing on one end at various angles with the one end still in substantial contact with the bottom inside surface of the vessel, and with some of the graphical illustrations showing the egg floating out of contact with the bottom inside surface within the vessel; the graphical representations being such that comparison of the graphical representations to the assumed position and attitude of the egg being tested may be made without having the egg being tested positioned in any particular orientation or location within the vessel.