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.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The machine of this invention is particularly useful for cracking black walnuts, but it is also useful for cracking other types of hard-shelled nuts. It is especially useful to relatively small scale nut growers, because it is inexpensive, but rugged and effective. 
     The problem of cracking and extracting the meat from a large number of hard-shelled nuts, particularly black walnuts and hickory nuts, has vexed growers and users of nuts, and has resulted in numerous patents directed to machines for cracking nuts. These patented machines have been of three or four main sorts. One approach, exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,218,968 and 5,115,733 relies upon rotating plates which are either on parallel axes and biased toward one another (′968) or upon making one plate slightly skewed toward the other so that when a nut is introduced between the plates, it can roll until it is compressed between the plates to crack it. Another has been the use of a plurality of wheels the perimeters of which form a small opening through which nuts pass, being cracked in the process, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,032. Yet another approach has been the use of what is essentially a jaw crusher, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,123. Variations of these approaches are illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,441,414 and 5,247,879. 
     Most of these prior art patents are directed to shelling such nuts as pecans, which pose different problems from black walnuts, for example. Because black walnut shells are desired as abrasives, and because the meat of a black walnut is difficult to extract, it is necessary and desirable to fragment the shells to a greater degree than would be desirable for pecans or English walnuts, for example. However, the machine of this invention can be adjusted to accommodate nuts such as English walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans. 
     One of the objects of this invention is to provide a nut cracking machine that is rugged, dependable, relatively simple as compared with prior art machines, and effective to crack and permit the extraction of the meat from hard-shelled nuts in quantity. 
     Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawings. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with this invention, generally stated, a nut cracking machine is provided that 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. The cylinder is mounted at a predetermined distance from an anvil plate member. The cylinder is power rotated in a direction to direct an upper part of the cylinder toward the anvil plate member. The anvil plate member is slanted from the top of the plate toward its bottom in a direction toward the cylinder. A feed hopper for receiving nuts and directing the nuts onto the cylinder is provided. In the preferred embodiment, the hopper includes a guide baffle adjacent a bottom opening of the hopper and above the cylinder for directing the nuts onto the cylinder and inhibiting upward projection of the nuts into the hopper. An overhang attached to the anvil plate projects toward the hopper and above the guide baffle and cylinder a sufficient distance to clear nuts leaving the hopper and going over the top of the cylinder. In the preferred embodiment, also, the projections on the cylinder take the form of uninterrupted, longitudinally extending ribs or bars, which pull the nuts toward the anvil plate and aid in the breaking up of the nuts. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawing, FIG. 1 is a view in front elevation of one embodiment of machine of this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a view in front elevation of the machine, with an anvil plate assembly removed; 
     FIG. 3 is a view in side elevation as viewed from left to right of FIGS. 1 and 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a view in side elevation as viewed from right to left in FIGS. 1 and 2; 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail top plan view of an anvil plate assembly; 
     FIG. 6 is a view in front elevation of the anvil plate assembly of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7 is a view in side elevation of the anvil plate assembly of FIGS. 5 and 6; 
     FIG. 8 is a view in front elevation as viewed from left to right in FIG. 7 of an anvil plate without bolts; 
     FIG. 9 is a view in side elevation of the anvil plate and an overhang before the anvil plate is mounted on a backing plate; 
     FIG. 10 is a view in end elevation of a breaking cylinder of this embodiment; 
     FIG. 11 is a view in side elevation of the breaking cylinder of FIG. 10, with shafts extending from each end; 
     FIG. 12 is a view in front elevation of a pillow block in which a shaft of FIG. 11 is journalled; 
     FIG. 13 is a view in front elevation, with gear teeth shown schematically, of a driven sprocket, on a reduced scale; 
     FIG. 14 is a view in front elevation, with gear teeth shown schematically, of a driving sprocket, on a reduced scale; 
     FIG. 15 is a fragmentary view in side elevation, partly broken away, of the machine shown in FIGS. 1 through 4; 
     FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken along the line  16 — 16  of FIG. 15; and 
     FIG. 17 is a top plan view of a hopper of the machine. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In the drawing, reference numeral  1  indicates an assembled machine of this invention. The machine  1  includes a stand  3 , with legs  4  in the form of heavy angle irons welded at their tops to heavy solid side bars  6 , and, in this embodiment, provided with casters  7  at their bottoms. A support plate  8  of heavy steel, is welded to and extends between the side bars  6 . The support plate  8  has internally threaded bolt holes  9 . 
     Pillow blocks  10 , with heavy duty anti-friction bearings  12 , are bolted to upper surfaces of the side bars  6 , as shown particularly in FIG.  3 . 
     A cylindrical breaker roll  16  has a short stub shaft  14  projecting from one end, journalled in the bearing  12  of a pillow block  10 , and a somewhat longer stub shaft  15  on its other end, journalled in the bearing  12  of a pillow block  10  on the other end of the cylinder, and projecting beyond the pillow block sufficiently to receive a driven sprocket  20 , keyed or otherwise securely mounted on the shaft  15 . 
     The breaker roll  16  is, in this embodiment, provided with projections in the form of uninterrupted lengthwise extending ribs  18 , welded or otherwise secured to the outer surface of the cylinder between the shafts  14  and  15 . In this embodiment, the cylinder and its shafts are one piece, solid steel. The ribs can be made integral with the cylinder, or, as in the present embodiment, welded to the cylinder. The latter has the advantage that the ribs can be made of a more abrasive-resistant metal than the cylinder itself. 
     A motor with a gear box  22  shown somewhat diagrammatically in FIGS. 1-3, is mounted to the stand. The gear box has a shaft on which a drive sprocket  24  is mounted. The drive sprocket  24  is aligned with the driven sprocket  20  and a drive chain  26  extends between them. 
     In the present embodiment, the position of the cylinder roll  16  is fixed. 
     A breaker plate or anvil plate  30  is, in the embodiment shown, mounted by means of counter-sunk headed bolts  41 , to a backing plate  32  in the form of heavy channels with flanges  34 , welded to a base plate  31 . Braces  36 , welded at one end to the base plate  31  and at the other end to a web of the backing plate  32 , serve to reinforce the backing plate against movement with respect to the base plate. The anvil plate itself has counter-sunk bolt holes  38  aligned with internally threaded holes  40  in the backing plate to receive the bolts  41 , and bolt holes  45 , aligned with internally threaded bolt receiving holes  46  in the backing plate  32 . 
     An overhang  42  is in the form of an angle iron with a wide leg  43  extending toward the breaker cylinder and a relatively narrow leg  44 . Bolt holes  47  through the leg  44 , are aligned with the bolt holes  45  in the anvil plate and the internally threaded holes  46  in the backing plate to receive bolts  48  by which the overhang  42  is bolted to the backing plate. 
     Slots  49  in the base plate  31  are aligned with the bolt holes  9  in the support plate  8 , to receive clamp bolts, not here shown, by which the anvil plate  30  is fixed in any desired spaced position from the breaker roll  16  within the limits of the slot length. 
     As can be seen from FIGS. 7 and 15, the anvil plate  30  slopes away from the cylinder  16  at an acute angle from the vertical, in the direction from the base plate to the upper end of the anvil plate. 
     A hopper  52  has a mouth  53  and a lower open end  54 , all defined by a sharply sloping front wall  55 , an oppositely sloping back wall  56 , and side walls  57 , as shown in FIGS. 1 through 4 and  15  as is apparent from FIG. 15, the mouth  53  is offset away from the space between the cylinder  16  and the anvil plate  30  to a place behind the cylinder. At its lower open end, the hopper has a baffle  60  under and spaced from the mouth  53 , sloping from the back wall  56  downwardly toward the cylinder  16 . The baffle  60  serves both to direct nuts from the hopper onto the upper side of the cylinder, and to inhibit the throwing of cracked nuts back into the hopper. A cracking chamber  62  is defined by a back wall  63 , side walls  64 , the baffle  60 , the overhang  42  and the anvil plate  30 . 
     The entire hopper assembly, including the cracking chamber, is supported and mounted to the stand by a support cowling  65  welded at its upper end to the side walls  57  of the hopper, and provided at its bottom edges with outwardly turned feet through which it is bolted to the side bars  6 . 
     A discharge chute  68  extends downwardly from the cracking chamber  62  to any distance that is desired. 
     In operation, the motor  22  is started, to rotate the breaker cylinder  16 , husked nuts are put into the hopper, where they are directed by the plate  60  to the upper side of the cylinder from which they are urged by the ribs  18  to the space between the cylinder and the anvil plate  30 , and cracked into pieces, passing through the passage between the cylinder and the plate, and through the chute  68  into any suitable container placed below the chute. In the case of black walnuts, a large proportion of the nut meats are freed from the shell, making it unnecessary to pick them from the shell by hand. 
     Merely by way of illustration, it has been found that the angle from the vertical of the anvil plate  30 , for black walnuts, is optimally 12 degrees (78 degrees from the horizontal) and the distance between the cylinder and the anvil plate at its closest, between ½ and ¾ of an inch. For hickory nuts, for example, the distance is preferably to ¼ to {fraction (5/16)} of an inch, and for butternuts, between ¾ and 1 inch. The 12 degree angle is satisfactory for all of these nuts, but it is not absolutely critical. The diameter of the shafts  14  and  15  in the embodiment shown, is 2{fraction (3/16)} inches, and the pillow blocks are sized accordingly. The diameter of the cylinder between the shafts is 2⅜ inches, and to the outer edges of the ribs, 2{fraction (11/16)} inches. The ribbed portion of the cylinder is 12 inches long. With a motor speed of 1725 rpm, and a gear box output of 140 rpm, the drive sprocket  24  with  18  teeth and the driven socket with 30 teeth, the cylinder is rotated at 84 rpm. The bars making up the ribs in this embodiment are {fraction (5/16)} inches square in transverse cross-section, and 8 in number, evenly spaced. With a one horsepower AC motor, the machine can readily crack 6 to 10 pounds of black walnuts a minute. 
     Numerous variations, within the scope of the appended claims, will occur to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure. Merely by way of example, the size of the cylinder can be varied, depending upon the type of nut and volume of nuts to be cracked. More or fewer ribs can be provided, extending less or more than {fraction (5/16)} of an inch. The ribs can be set into channels in the cylinder, or dovetailed, sliding into mortises in the cylinder, or otherwise be secured to the cylinder. The projections from the cylinder can take the form of pegs, in staggered rows, or interrupted ribs. The diameter of the cylinder can be varied, as well as the diameter of the shafts. The outer surface of the cylinder can be polygonal, providing flats to which bars can be welded. Various types of motors and gear boxes can be used. The drive of the cylinder can be a direct gear drive from the gear box, instead of a chain drive. Any other power drive can be used, as, for example, a belt drive, particularly for a bank of machines, or an internal combustion engine, where electricity is not available. As has been indicated, an angle of 12 degrees from the vertical has been found particularly effective. However, the angle of the anvil plate  30  with respect to the cylinder can be varied, depending upon the type of nut and speed of rotation of the cylinder, as well as the projection of the ribs. The face of the anvil plate can be curved, if desired, although it complicates the construction of the anvil plate assembly. Although the backing plate is shown as being made in two parts, a single channel, with or without reinforcing ribs, or a heavy single plate, can be used. Gussets may be used instead of the braces, to reinforce the backing plate. The cylinder can be driven at different speeds. A single shaft, cantilevered, can support the cylinder, with spaced bearings, but such a construction requires a heavy shaft to avoid springing of the shaft and cylinder. As shown in FIG. 3, a square or hexagonal boss can be provided on the end of the shorter of the shafts, to accommodate a wrench, to enable the cylinder to be turned manually in the opposite direction, in case of a jam, when the motor has been turned off. These variations are merely illustrative.