"It fills wagons evenly from front to back so you never have to move them or do any shoveling," says Glen Forrest, Potomac, Ill., about his auger-mounted "Grain Levelor".

Forrest showed the new idea for the first time at the recent Minnesota Inventors Congress in Redwood Falls.

It consists of three PVC pipes -- a short 8-in. dia. section that bolts on in place of the auger unloading spout, and two 6-in. dia., 30-in. long pipes that extend out to each side. There's an opening between the pipes, and the underside of each pipe has an opening in the middle. As a result, grain coming out of the auger falls in five separate streams. Grain flow is adjusted by slides mounted under the end of each pipe. The amount of space between the pipes, and the size of the openings, are also adjustable.

"I use it whenever I unload grain from my bins. It eliminates having to move the wagon all the time," says Forrest. "It has no moving parts so there's nothing to rust out or wear out. A big advantage is that it distributes fines evenly throughout the wagon. I use it on my 8-in. Kewaunee auger to fill a 300 bu. gravity wagon, but the pipes could be made longer to fill a larger trailer or box car. There's a rope attached to each pipe which I can reach from the ground in order to raise the pipes out of the way, making room for the tractor pulling the wagon to drive under the auger. The pipes are supported by chains which can be adjusted to change the pipe angle. Adjustable slides can be used to change the size of all openings.

"I have one bin where the unloading auger comes out at a 90 degree angle from the bin, and another bin where the auger comes out at a 45 degree angle. I drilled two holes in the auger spout so I can rotate the entire grain levelor in order to keep it lined up with the wagon."