ADSTRACT AN electrically operated soil penetrometer was designed for evaluating soil strength condition across a profile width of at least 3.0 m and a depth of at least 0.8 m. A record of penetrometer force versus depth was made by the use of a 30-deg cone pene-trometer in conjunction with appropriate transducers. Data were recorded on an X-Y plotter which displayed the output signals from a force transducer and pre-cision potentiometer. The device is easy to use, and provides surface profile measurements in addition to cone penetration values.