Made by ‘WESTON ELEC. INST. CORP. NEWARK, NJ. USA’, from 1954, the "Direct Reading" Weston 853 is a lower cost variant of the 850. They are called Direct Reading because you set the film speed (from 10 to 125), then choose the now rather restricted range of 1/30 or 1/50 for the shutter speed. This simply adjusts the amount of the photo-cell that is uncovered - see the picture below. You then read the aperture straight off the dial. If you fancy using a different shutter speed you can converts the aperture using a table on the front which rather defeats the object of the thing. They came compete with a leather case and integral black cloth strap. Lots of them on Ebay at low prices.
