Patents by Inventor Michael S. Andreasen

Michael S. Andreasen has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8267009
    Abstract: A nutcracker utilizes a cone with a textured exterior surface rotatably mounted and centered inside a vertical cylinder with a textured interior surface. The textured exterior surface and the textured interior surface are non-parallel and form a cracking zone that becomes smaller in the downward direction. As the conical member rotates, gravity rolls nuts down in a spiraling path, between and along the preferred elongated and slanted protrusions forming the texture. This path takes the nuts into an increasingly smaller cracking zone until the pressure on the nuts from the conical and cylindrical members causes the nut-shells to crack and the nuts typically to break into halves and thirds. The nutcracker may include an adjustable barrel that rolls up and down inside a housing, for changing the minimum width of the cracking zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Inventor: Michael S. Andreasen
  • Publication number: 20090193984
    Abstract: A nutcracker utilizes a cone with a textured exterior surface rotatably mounted and centered inside a vertical cylinder with a textured interior surface. The textured exterior surface and the textured interior surface are non-parallel and form a cracking zone that becomes smaller in the downward direction. As the conical member rotates, gravity rolls nuts down in a spiraling path, between and along the preferred elongated and slanted protrusions forming the texture. This path takes the nuts into an increasingly smaller cracking zone until the pressure on the nuts from the conical and cylindrical members causes the nut-hells to crack and the nuts typically to break into halves and thirds. The nutcracker may have a multiple plate system below the cracking zone that manages the nuts and shells after cracking. The nutcracker may include an adjustable barrel that rolls up and down inside a housing, for changing the minimum width of the cracking zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2009
    Publication date: August 6, 2009
    Inventor: MICHAEL S. ANDREASEN
  • Patent number: 7481157
    Abstract: A nutcracker utilizes a conical member with a textured exterior surface rotatably mounted and centered inside a vertical cylinder with a textured interior surface. The nuts occupy a cracking zone between the textured exterior surface and the textured interior surface. As the conical member rotates, gravity rolls the nuts down in a spiraling path into an increasingly smaller cracking zone until the pressure on the nuts between the textured exterior surface and the textured interior surface causes the shells to crack and the nuts to break into halves and thirds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2009
    Inventor: Michael S. Andreasen