Abstract: A nut butter spread is described to include nut portions blended in a nut butter base. The nut portions are derived from nuts having been finished (e.g., prior to introduction to the nut butter base) via a slicing operation.

Abstract: Improved methods and apparatus for dry hulling or dry peeling harvested crops, particularly pistachio nuts, are disclosed. The methods and apparatus of the present invention provide crop harvesting with great efficiency resulting in consistently high percentages of hulled or peeled crops and low percentages of nut breakage, without increasing processing times regardless of the sizes of the crops being hulled or peeled. The methods and apparatus of the present invention also provide for a relatively small overall machine footprint, plus easy and efficient removal and replacement of the impingement drum to accommodate for different drum speeds, different crop sizes, different bolt patterns, different bolt sizes, and other variations allowing embodiments of the invention to be used on a wide range of nuts and vegetables of different varieties, sizes and shapes.

Abstract: A device and method for shelling nuts. The device may be attached to a belt sander. The device includes a hopper into which the nuts are initially placed. Two large threaded fasteners on the central portion are used to adjust the system for the size of nut being shelled. A bracket placed behind the central portion attaches the device to the sander. The rotating belt brings the nut down to a lower opening formed to be just smaller than the shell of the nut being shelled. As the shell of the nut is caused to pass through this opening, the shell cracks. The nut with the cracked shell now impacts on one or more strike plates. These impacts further propagate the cracks formed in the shell so that the fragmented shells fall away from the nut. The nut and the cracked shells fall into the collection bag.

Abstract: A nut shelling apparatus and method for the shelling of nuts such as chinquapins and chestnuts without substantially damaging the meat of the nuts. The nut shelling machine utilizes a combination of the inertia of the nut and a planar rotating cutting disc, such as one with a layer of aluminum oxide abrasive material, to cut the shell of the nut in a series of small cuts. The rotating abrasive disc utilizes the resistive inertia of the nuts to launch the nut in an upward direction and causing the nuts to fall onto the abrasive surface to repeatedly cut the shells. The repeated cutting action results in removal of a substantial amount of the shell in a short period of time while at the same time minimizing damage to the meat of the nut.

Abstract: A pecan nut meat preferably for use with pecans, extractor includes a hollow frusto-conical segment journalled about an axial drive shaft, the segment having a minor upper base and a major lower base, the upper and lower bases each defining unitary surfaces for precluding access to a hollow interior of the segment, the segment including a frusto-conical lateral surface between its upper and lower bases, the lateral surface including a multiplicity of splines having interdigitating spaces similar in polar separation to that of the splines.

Abstract: A hand-held, manually operated seed shucking appliance enables a food preparer to remove the seed coverings of black-eyed peas from their kernels. A spring and piston inside a chamber are arranged to compress a load of pre-soaked black-eyed peas against a shuttle rasp threaded between side slots. As a user manipulates the shuttle rasp, the shucks are scraped off the seeds by a scraping surface and both pass through the side slots. The piston is configured to be cocked back such that the chamber can be loaded through one end with a fresh charge of black-eyed peas.

Abstract: A device for regulating and adjusting a distance between pairs of adjacent rollers in a peeling machine for almonds and similar dried fruits is provided, wherein the rollers are horizontally aligned at both sides of a central plane through which the product to be peeled is passed, the device including a movement transmission shaft coupled to each pair of adjacent rollers, a motor for operation of the movement transmission shaft, wherein the motor is coupled to one of the ends of the transmission shaft, a torque meter for measuring torque at various positions of the rollers, wherein the torque meter is coupled to a spin axis of at least one of the rollers in the pair, and a sensor for measuring and regulating a working distance between the rollers, wherein the sensor is coupled to at least the other roller in the pair.

Abstract: The hard shells or hulls of whole nuts are effectively cracked and separated from the nut meat by propelling and impacting the whole nuts at a predetermined trajectory velocity against an adjustable impacting plate set at the appropriate impacting angle. By controlling the manner in which the whole nuts impact against the impacting plate, the fracturing of the hard shell may be controlled so as to optimize the whole nut meat recovery while minimizing the production of split nut meats. A variable speed impeller in combination with adjustability of the impacting plate optimizes the nut cracking and nut meat separation for any type of whole nut. An orderly sequential feed of whole nuts to an off-set feed zone of rotating impellers equipped with vanes having a catching section and an accelerating section at a regulated rotational speed effectively propels the whole nuts against the adjustable impacting plate.

Abstract: A nut-cracking apparatus that is compact and efficient cracks nuts at high production rates. The nut-cracking apparatus includes an endless conveyor and delivers nuts from a hopper to a delivery point. The nuts are engaged at the delivery point by a nut-cracking unit which cracks the nuts. The endless conveyor includes nut pockets which are made up of separate nut pocket segments that are movable from open to closed positions. The nut pocket segments are in an open position where the nuts are cracked to provide ample room for cracking of the nut.

Abstract: A nut cracking apparatus includes a rotatable turret mounted to a frame. An endless conveyor delivers nuts to a pickup point at which nut cracking units engage nuts carried by the endless conveyor. The endless conveyor has a generally horizontal carrying portion for carrying nuts from the hopper to the pickup point.

Abstract: A nut cracking mechanism for shelling variable-sized nuts having a brittle shell and fragile nut meat, the nut cracker mechanism having a housing with a horizontally positioned rotatable drum contained in the housing, and an adjustable, substantially vertical compression plate mounted in the housing with a cracking surface displaced from a cylindrical slip resistant cracking surface of the drum to form a narrowing gap between the drum and the compression plate, the gap having an upper portion sized to accommodate nuts of varying sizes and a lower portion sized to compress nuts between the cylindrical surface of the drum and the compression plate until the nut cracks and releases its meat, the mechanism having associated components to feed nuts to the top of the mechanism and receive shells and meat from the bottom of the mechanism.

Abstract: A nut-cracking apparatus that is compact and efficient cracks nuts at high production rates. The nut-cracking apparatus includes an endless conveyor and delivers nuts from a hopper to a delivery point. The nuts are engaged at the delivery point by a nut-cracking unit which cracks the nuts. The endless conveyor includes nut pockets which are made up of separate nut pocket segments that are movable from open to closed positions. The nut pocket segments are in an open position where the nuts are cracked to provide ample room for cracking of the nut.

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.

Abstract: The current invention provides an improved sheller for removing the husk or shell from nuts, legumes and other similar plant products. The sheller of the current invention includes an improved ring assembly. The improved ring assembly comprises ring units having an inner ring and an outer ring. Each inner ring carries integrally formed spacers and each outer ring carries integrally formed spacers. Each inner ring directly contacts an adjunct inner ring and each outer ring directly contacts an adjacent outer ring. Through use of integrally formed spacers, the current invention significantly reduces the number of component requiring assembly during the manufacture of the sheller.

Abstract: A nut-cracking apparatus has an endless conveyor that delivers nuts from a hopper to a pickup point. A rotating turret is mounted to a frame and includes a plurality of nut-cracking units. The nut-cracking units engage nuts carried by the endless conveyor at the pickup point and remove nuts therefrom. The forward sprocket about which the endless conveyor rotates has an axis of rotation that is offset from the axis of rotation of the turret. The axis of rotation of the forward conveyor sprocket falls within a circular periphery defined by the nut-cracking units on the rotating turret.

Abstract: An improved nutcracker and shelling process use centrifugal force to accelerate nuts so that their shells shatter upon impacting a target surface. The nutcracker includes an impeller having an intake for receiving nuts and an outlet for discharging the nuts. During operation, the impeller is spun so that the nuts received at the intake are accelerated as they pass through the impeller. The nuts reach a sufficiently fast speed so that their shells fracture upon hitting the target surface after being thrown from the impeller.

Abstract: An apparatus for successively delivering nuts from a hopper to a high production nutcracker. An endless conveyor extends through the hopper and includes a plurality of nut transport elements which pick up the nuts in a receptacle formed in the upper surface of each element. To insure that only one nut is received in each receptacle, each element is provided with a longitudinal slot in one of the sides of the element which communicates with the receptacle, and a pivotally mounted singulating arm extends into the slots of the advancing elements to eject any excess nuts from each receptacle. To accommodate nuts of different average size, the pivotal position of the singulating arm is adjustable by means of an actuating wheel positioned on the outside of the hopper.

Abstract: A high production nutcracking apparatus wherein the nuts are fed from a hopper on a feed conveyor which has an upwardly inclined segment which passes through the hopper, a horizontal segment which leads to the cracking apparatus, and an arcuate transition juncture which is between the two segments. The nuts are received in nut transport elements of the feed conveyor, and they are singularized and oriented while being advanced by means of a deflecting plate which overlies the feed conveyor from a point along the upwardly inclined segment, along the transition juncture, and to a delivery point where the nuts are lifted from the conveyor by a cracking turret. The downstream end portion of the deflecting plate comprises an elastomeric flap, which is highly flexible and relatively soft and which engages the advancing nuts with a frictional force sufficient to roll the nuts about their end to end axes and thereby properly orient the nuts in the nut transport elements.

Abstract: A high production nutcracking apparatus wherein any whole nuts which are mis-fed or fail to be cracked, are automatically returned to the feed hopper without being exposed to possible contamination. To separate the shell fragments from the uncracked whole nuts, there is provided an inclined openwork grate, which is sized and configured to permit the shell fragments to pass directly therethrough while the whole nuts slide down and drop off a lower end of the grate. The grate is formed of a plurality of parallel rods which are supported so that they vibrate during operation of the cracking apparatus, to facilitate the sliding movement of the whole nuts.

Abstract: An agitating device is provided that may be mounted inside a rotating nut hulling tub for increasing the agitation of the nuts, thereby increasing the hulling speed, especially important for pistachio nuts. The device comprises a bracket capable of being attached to the inside cover of a rotatable nut hulling tub, which has side wall protrusions for hulling nuts. There are at least four brackets attached to the cover at cardinal points. Each bracket has a series of three holes and three tub fingers. The tub fingers are capable of being attached to the bracket so the fingers hang downwardly into the tub in contact with the nuts, thereby agitating the nuts as they move inside the rotatable tub. The tub fingers are capable of assisting in knocking off the nut hulls and causing the nuts to move against the side wall protrusions at a faster rate, thereby speeding up the nut hulling process.

Abstract: A lightweight feed chain for a high speed nutcracking apparatus and which is composed of a plurality of individual nut transport elements mounted in succession. The nut transport elements are block-like in configuration, and each element includes a nut receptacle extending laterally across the upper face which is sized to accommodate a single nut of a given size. The elements are formed of a high impact plastic material which has been found to reduce wear and breakage from contact with the nutcracking components of the apparatus, and to reduce the weight of the chain. Also the elements may be color coded, with each color indicating a particular size of the receptacle.

Abstract: A sealed lubrication system for a high production nutcracking apparatus of the type comprising a plurality of cracking units mounted on a rotatable turret. The cracking units are operated by pressurized air during rotation of the turret, and the pressurized air includes an oil mist component to reduce friction and wear. The oil is recovered by a system which includes an essentially closed annular collection chamber which surrounds the turret and which leads to a drain and an oil tank, and the oil tank is divided by a porous baffle plate which serves to remove and collect the entrained oil before the air is released to the atmosphere.

Abstract: A cracking die assembly which is adapted for use in a high production nutcracking apparatus of the type wherein a nut is held between an anvil and a cracking die, and a shuttle then impacts against the rearward end face of the cracking die to sharply advance the cracking die and thereby crack the shell of the nut. The cracking die assembly includes a mounting sleeve having a bore with an internal shoulder, and a tubular retainer mounted within a portion of the sleeve bore so as to engage the shoulder of the sleeve. An annular gasket is fixedly mounted in the bore of the retainer, and the cracking die has a radial flange which is positioned to lie between the shoulder in the bore of the sleeve, and the gasket. Also, the gasket and radial flange have conforming surfaces which engage when the cracking die is impacted by the shuttle, and the gasket is free to radially expand to absorb a portion of the impacting force of the shuttle.

Abstract: A coconut shredding/grating apparatus for allowing a user to shred and grate a coconut. The coconut shredding/grating apparatus includes a base member including main base portion having top and bottom sides; and also includes a housing being mounted upon the top side of the base member and having front, rear and side walls, and also having a hole being disposed through the front wall; and further includes a coconut shredding assembly including a motor being disposed in the housing and having a motor shaft, and also including a control assembly for energizing and operating the motor, and further including a coconut shredding member being detachably connected to the motor shaft for rotation therewith; and also includes a coconut support assembly including a coconut support member being removably secured upon the base member; and further includes a tray being removably disposed upon the base member for receiving shredded and grated coconut.

Abstract: An agitating device is provided that may be mounted inside a rotating nut hulling tub for increasing the agitation of the nuts, thereby increasing the hulling speed, especially important for pistachio nuts. The device comprises a bracket capable of being attached to the inside cover of a rotatable nut hulling tub, which has side wall protrusions for hulling nuts. There are at least four brackets attached to the cover at cardinal points. Each bracket has a series of three holes and three tub fingers. The tub fingers are capable of being attached to the bracket so the fingers hang downwardly into the tub in contact with the nuts, thereby agitating the nuts as they move inside the rotatable tub. The tub fingers are capable of assisting in knocking off the nut hulls and causing the nuts to move against the side wall protrusions at a faster rate, thereby speeding up the nut hulling process.

Abstract: A nutcracking unit which is adapted for use in a high production nutcracking apparatus of the type wherein a nut is held between an anvil and cracking die, and a shuttle then impacts against the rear end surface of the cracking die to sharply advance the cracking die and thereby crack the shell of the nut. The cracking die and the anvil have opposing concave cracking surfaces for supporting a nut therebetween, and each of the concave cracking surfaces is defined by an outwardly bowed convoluted curve made with circle arcs when viewed in cross section. This configuration allows a relatively small nut, such as a pecan seedling, to be engaged and cracked at a point spaced from the pointed end of the nut, which in turn results in fewer uncracked or insufficiently cracked nuts.

Abstract: A high production nutcracking apparatus wherein the nuts are fed from a hopper on a feed conveyor which has an upwardly inclined segment which passes through the hopper, a horizontal segment which leads to the cracking apparatus, and an arcuate transition juncture which is between the two segments. The feed conveyor includes a plurality of nut transport elements mounted in succession on a feed chain, and each transport element includes an upwardly facing receptacle for receiving a single nut which is then advanced to the cracking apparatus. To permit the apparatus to process relatively small nuts, such as pecan seedlings, the elements each include a longitudinal notch in an upper corner, and a spacer bar is fixedly mounted so as to occupy the notches of the elements as they move through the hopper. The nuts are singularized and oriented in the receptacles of the elements while being advanced on the feed conveyor.

Abstract: Machine for opening pistachios, a reservoir containing pistachios, a device for opening pistachios, and a device for supplying pistachios from the container to the opening device. The opening device includes a rotary shaft which carries a coaxial disk equipped on its periphery, with a plurality of chambers, each of a size to accommodate a pistachio. During the rotation of the shaft, these chambers can be consecutively placed opposite the supply device and opposite a breaker piston.

Abstract: The present invention is a nut cracker apparatus that will successfully and efficiently crack nuts and separate the meat from the shell. To enable successful cracking the present invention comprises a housing having an inlet and outlet. Interiorly located in the housing is a rotatable horizontally disposed drum. A shaft having a plurality of paddles extends centrally through the drum. Secured to the wall of the drum is a plurality of removable screens. Nuts are fed to the inlet into the rotatable drum. During rotation, the paddles impart a force on the nuts causing them to crack and having the shells dislodge from the meat. The screens enable the appropriately sized meat to fall therethrough.

Abstract: The present invention is a nut cracker apparatus that will successfully and efficiency crack nuts and separate the meat from the shell. To enable successful cracking the present invention comprises a housing having an inlet and outlet. Interiorly located in the housing is a rotatable horizontally disposed drum. A shaft having a plurality of paddles extends centrally through the drum. Secured to the wall of the drum is a plurality of removable screens. Nuts are feed to the inlet into the rotatable drum. During rotation, the paddles impart a force on the nuts causing them to crack and having the shells dislodge from the meat. The screens enable the appropriately sized meat to fall therethrough.

Abstract: A nutcracking apparatus including a housing having opposing sidewalls. A hammer plate having an upper and lower portion is pivotally attached at its upper portion to the opposing sidewalls of the housing. A camshaft is positioned in abutment with a lower portion of the hammer plate, and a drive attached to an outer end of the cam shaft for effecting rotation thereof. An anvil plate having an upper and lower portion is spaced from the hammer plate is pivotally attached at its upper portion to the opposing sidewalls of the housing. A device is provided for moving the lower portion of the anvil plate towards and away from the lower portion of the hammer plate.

Abstract: An apparatus for cutting kernels of fresh corn from ears thereof and recovering kernels and cream therefrom for eating or preserving for future eating. The apparatus comprises a hand-held electric drill having a drill bit adapted to grip the ear at its stalk-end while the drill rotates the ear about the axis of the drill while pressing the ear into cutting tube having screw points projecting inwardly thereof causing said kernels to be ripped from the ear and discharged along with corn cream downwardly by gravity into a receiver for further processing.

Abstract: A high production nutcracking apparatus wherein the nuts are fed from a hopper on a feed conveyor to a cracking apparatus. The cracking apparatus is in the form of a plurality of cracking units mounted on a rotatable turret, and the rotating cracking units are cyclically controlled so as to clampingly engage and lift each oriented nut from the advancing conveyor, and so as to preserve its orientation. Each nut is then cracked and thereafter released at separate spaced points along the circular path of travel of the cracking unit. A structure and procedure for aligning the cracking units of the turret with respect to the feed conveyor is disclosed.

Abstract: A nut cracking machine comprises a cylinder mounted in bearings for rotation about a long axis of the cylinder. The cylinder has projections extending radially from its cylindrical surface. An anvil plate is held at a fixed predetermined distance from the cylinder when the machine is in operation. The cylinder is power driven. A feed hopper is provided for receiving nuts and directing the nuts onto the cylinder, the cylinder rotating in a direction to direct an upper part of the cylinder toward the anvil plate member, toward an increasingly restricted space between the cylinder and the anvil plate.

Abstract: A high production nutcracking apparatus wherein the nuts are fed from a hopper on a feed conveyor which has an upwardly inclined segment which passes through the hopper, a horizontal segment which leads to the cracking apparatus, and an arcuate transition juncture which is between the two segments. The nuts are singularized and oriented while being advanced on the feed conveyor, by means of a free floating covering plate which continuously overlies the feed conveyor from a point along the upwardly inclined segment, along the transition juncture, and to a delivery point where the nuts are lifted from the conveyor by a cracking apparatus. The cracking apparatus comprises a plurality of cracking units mounted on a rotatable turret, and the rotating cracking units are cyclically controlled so as to clampingly engage and lift each oriented nut from the advancing conveyor, and so as to preserve its orientation.

Abstract: A cracking die assembly which is adapted for use in a high production nutcracking apparatus of the type wherein a nut is held between an anvil and a cracking die, and a shuttle then impacts against the rear end face of the cracking die to sharply advance the cracking die and thereby crack the shell of the nut. The cracking die assembly includes a mounting sleeve having a bore with an internal shoulder, and a tubular retainer mounted within a portion of the sleeve bore so as to engage the shoulder of the sleeve. An annular gasket is fixedly mounted in the bore of the retainer, and the cracking die is mounted in the bore of the retainer, and the cracking die has a radial flange which is positioned to lie between the shoulder in the bore of the sleeve, and the gasket. Also, the gasket and radial flange have conforming conical surfaces which engage when the cracking die is impacted by the shuttle, to thereby absorb the impacting force of the shuttle.

Abstract: A mechanical nut cracker for a machine having an adjustably positioned crushing plate and crusher bar for cracking various types of nuts. The mechanical nut cracker includes a crusher assembly having a crusher bar rotationally attached to an end of a base member. The crusher assembly further includes a pair of side walls and a slanted back wall extending upwardly from the crusher bar and between the side walls. A crusher plate assembly is adjustably coupled to the base member for positioning in spaced relationship to the crusher bar. The crusher plate assembly includes a crusher plate, a pair of plate assembly side walls, and a slanted front wall extending up from the crusher plate and between the plate assembly side walls. The crusher plate assembly further includes a pair of arms extending outwardly for adjustably engaging the base member.

Abstract: An apparatus for shucking pecans having a stator, which is a trapezoidal front plate with a pair of adjoining tapered side-walls with longitudinal edges, a mounting bracket for immobilizing the stator, and a chute which is a reservoir for the pecans, where said stator is axially connected to a rotor, which is a circular back plate that pivots at the centroid of the front plate; the combination of the back plate and the front plate forming a chamber that is narrow at the bottom, wherein the pecans are cracked as the rotor is rocked back and forth through an arc, where the rocking action forces the pecans into compression and then in the reverse rock into relief, where the shell separates from the kernel.

Abstract: A nutcracker that cracks nuts such as pecans with a pair of spaced-apart counter-rotating rollers having a gap therebetween. Nuts are fed through the gap between the rollers and cracked as they are compressed between the rollers. The outer surfaces of the two rollers rotate at different speeds, which causes the nuts to rotate as they pass through the gap. This speed differential of the rollers and resulting rotation of the nuts causes the cracks in the nuts' shells to spread around substantially the entirety of the shell. The nuts are then much more easily opened than nuts cracked using previously designed nut-cracking apparatuses.

Abstract: A high production nutcracking apparatus is provided wherein the nuts are fed from a hopper on a feed conveyor, and wherein the nuts are singularized and oriented while being advanced on the feed conveyor. The oriented nuts are thereafter advanced by the feed conveyor to a cracking apparatus, which comprises a plurality of cracking units mounted on a rotatable turret. The rotating cracking units are cyclically controlled so as to clampingly engage and lift each oriented nut from the advancing conveyor, and so as to preserve its orientation. The nut is then cracked and thereafter released at separate spaced points along the circular path of travel of the cracking unit. The nut feed conveyor comprises an upwardly inclined segment which passes through the hopper, and a horizontal segment which leads to the cracking apparatus.

Abstract: A device for cleaning, shelling, and sizing nuts in a single step which includes a cleaning section, mounted in front of and in communication with a shelling section, which removes debris, small pods and loose shelled kernels using screens, separating air columns, and stepped rollers; a shelling section that shells nuts and separates the kernels from mixtures of pods, hulls, and kernels using separating air columns mounted behind and in communication with the sheller; a sizing section, mounted below and in communication with the separating air columns, which separates large and small kernels using roller sizers. A single step process performed by the device significantly reduces hand labor and time.

Abstract: A knurled horizontal roller is journaled for rotation from a mount and a vertically elongated abutment member having upper and lower ends is pivotally supported at its upper end from said mount for angular displacement about a horizontal axis generally paralleling the axis of the roller. One side of the abutment member includes a partial cylindrical surface opposing one side of the roller and yieldable stop structure is operatively connected between the mount and the lower end of the abutment member yieldingly resisting movement of the lower end of the abutment member away from the lower periphery of the roller. The roller may be either rotated by hand through a hand crank operatively connected thereto or motor driven through the utilization of a pneumatic wrench or a variable speed drill, or the like.

Abstract: A nut dehulling apparatus for more effectively removing the green hull or shuck from pecans includes a housing having a housing inlet and a housing outlet. A rotatable scrubbing means and an endless conveyor belt are disposed in the housing. Further included is a means for rotating the scrubbing means and means for moving the endless conveyor belt. The endless conveyor belt includes a nut contact portion which, along with the rotatable scrubbing means, defines a nut passageway wherein the scrubbing means engage pecans. The nut passageway circumscribes approximately one-half the scrubbing means. The endless conveyor belt is located in the housing such that nuts deposited in the inlet are carried by the conveyor belt through the nut passageway into engagement with the scrubbing means. The separated nuts and hulls are then carried by the endless conveyor belt to the housing outlet. The apparatus also includes a vacuum source disposed in the housing.

Abstract: This invention provides for an apparatus that will shell and separate the shells from the meat of a cracked nut or legume. The apparatus of the present invention is also provided with an adjustable slide plate that will render the apparatus with the capacity of dehulling any variety nut or legume.

Abstract: A mechanism for cracking nuts utilizing a rotating member including a plurality of cells. Each cell of the rotating member is sized to contain a single nut which is accessible through an entrance to the cell. The cell also includes a plate against which the walnut may rest. Each nut, if elongated, is oriented in each of the cells such that the long axis of the nut lies between the entrance and the plate of each cell. Cracking heads are employed in association with each of the cells such that any single cracking head is sized to move freely in and out of the entrance of each of the cells and may contact the nut within each cell. A striker or impact producing device imparts an impinging force to any of the cracking heads to crack the nut between the cracking head and plate within each of the cells of the rotating member.

Abstract: Machine for opening shell fruit comprising two counter rotating plates 12 and 13 and having recesses in the peripheries incorporating cutting means 23, the axes of the plates 12 and 13 being parallel and alongside each other so as to allow the cutting means 23 to come together in phase and in so doing vary the shape and size of the space defined by the cutting means.

Abstract: A nut cracking machine constructed with a cracking unit having a first reel of generally cylindrical configuration with a periphery having a series of uniformly spaced first cracking faces and a second reel of generally cylindrical configuration disposed within the first reel with a periphery having a series of uniformly spaced second cracking faces oppositely facing the first cracking faces, the first reel and second reel being rotated together on displaced axes that are parallel, the machine having a nut dispensing mechanism for dispensing nuts between the opposed cracking faces where the nuts are cracked as the reels rotate.

Abstract: A pistachio huller provided wherein a means (16) having projections (18) pushes unhulled nuts between the surface of the means having projections and a surface of a means (30) having channels (28), the channels being wider than the pistachio nuts to be hulled. The projections protrude into the channels and the hulls are ruptured and abraded through contact between the surface of the means with projections and the surface of the channels whereby the nuts are hulled.

Abstract: A roller assembly for grain shellers, the assembly including a metal sleeve having locking lugs fixed therein, a sleeve of flexible material bonded to the exterior of the metal sleeve, the locking lugs being adapted for connection to a mounting hub, thereby to fix the metal sleeve to the mounting hub.

Abstract: Peeling rollers for vegetables, particularly root crops each comprising an hourglass-shaped core roller having a recessed portion defined and an outer cylindrical elastomer member concentrically surrounding the core roller, thereby constituting a space enclosed by the recessed portion and the elastomer member, the elastomer member being attached with abrasive pieces, the space being a hollow.