Consistometer

an instrument for measuring consistency. Consistometers are widely used in evaluating the quality of finished and semifinished food products in the confectionery, canning, meat-packing, fish-processing, and baking industries and in the production of fats and oils, as well as to monitor the density of bituminous substances, the quality of resins, and the fluidity of slurries in the cement industry. The product is placed in an open vessel, under a needle. The measurement is made with a constant or variable load. In the first case the time required for immersion of the needle in the object to a given depth is deter-mined, or the depth of immersion is measured for a given length of time. In the second case measurements are made of the weight of the load that immerses the needle in the object to a given depth after a specific time period.