Patent GB-692361-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to nut shelling machines
IPC: A23N5/00
Filed: 1950-08-08
Abstract: 692,361. Shelling nuts. HAWKINS, E. D. Aug. 7, 1951 [Aug. 8, 1950], No. 19757/50. Class 58 [Also in Group II] A nut shelling machine for shelling tung and like nuts comprises a carrier, means on the carrier for supporting at its opposite ends or sides a nut to be shelled, means for penetrating the shell and ejecting the kernel therefrom, means for displacing the ejector and the carrier relatively to each other and longitudinally of the latter, and means for operating the said ejector means in synchronism with the relative motion between the carrier and the ejector. As shown a wheel 1 consisting of a relatively narrow outer rim 4 supported on four radial spokes 5 from a central spindle 6, an intermediate toothed ring 7 having two sets of teeth 7a, 7b and mounted concentrically with the rim 4, and an inner annular band 8 on which are pivoted a number of spring-loaded arms 9 constituting part of the nut holders 10, is mounted for horizontal rotation by a driving crank 12a mounted at the end of a rotatable shaft 12 carrying a pinion 11 which engages with the teeth 7a on the ring 7 on rollers on a supporting bench. A sleeve 14 rotatably mounted on each of the shafts 12 carries at its inner end a gear wheel 15 engageable with the teeth 7b on the ring 7 and having on its outer end a boss 16 located above the rim 4 of the wheel 1 and has a number of ejector punches 17, for example, six, projecting radially therefrom and each of a length such that it can penetrate the shell of a tung or like nut mounted in a holder 10 on the rim of the wheel 1 and so eject the kernel therefrom. The number of teeth on the,gear wheel 15 are so arranged that a punch co-operates with each nut holder 10 as it passes beneath the punch. The rim 4 of the wheel is provided with a number of apertures 18 which are equally spaced around the periphery thereof and are of a size to allow the kernel of a tung nut to fall freely therethrough. At either end of each aperture 18 are located a pair of upstanding abutments 10a, 10b constituting nut supports, the one support 10a being fixed to the rim of the wheel 1 and the other support 10b is mounted on a respective radial arm 9 pivoted at its inner end 'on a pin 19 secured to the inner annular band 8 of the wheel. The support 10b is biased towards the fixed support 10a by means of a loading spring 20 which bears against the radial arm 9 and is anchored to the pivot pin 19 of an adjacent radial arm 9. Each fixed support 10a and each movable support 10b has an inwardfacing shoulder or ridge in the form of a V-block 21 to engage and support the corresponding end of the shell N of a tung nut (see Fig 8, not shown), when the nut is placed down with the hard portion of the shell uppermost, the movable support 10b being self-adjusting by insertion of the nut itself, to accommodate nuts of varying length. Each pair of fixed and movable supports 10 thus constitutes a holder for the nuts to be shelled. In a modification shown in Fig. 13 the rotating boss 16 is driven from an endless conveyer belt of band 30 which consists of a plurality of spaced slats 31 secured to an endless web 32 made for example of woven material. On one side of the slats 31 is arranged a row of nut holders 10 of similar construction to those described above and each spanning the space between a pair of adjacent slats 31, and the web 32 is apertured at 18 between each fixed and movable support 10a, 10b respectively of each holder 10 for the passage therethrough of a nut kernel. A number of ejector punch mechanisms 13 are arranged at intervals above the upper pass 30a, Fig. 13, of the conveyer belt, which mechanisms are similar in construction to those previously described. The ejector punches 17 are carried on shafts 36 driven through gears 37, 38 (not shown), the latter being mounted on a common drive shaft 39 and geared to the shaft of the driving wheel 34 at an appropriate ratio. Beneath the apertures 18 are arranged shoots 40 for guiding the kernels of the nuts passing through the apertures 18 into the shelled nut receptacles 26, a second shoot 41 being also provided below the end 23b of the stripper plate 22 passing empty shells to the appropriate receptacle 25, the shoots 40 and 41 being mounted on a post 42 which also supports the ejector shaft 36. A rubbing plate 43 is mounted below the web 32 where it passes beneath each ejector mechanism 13 for supporting the web during the ejection operation. A feed hopper 44 may be arranged for supplying nuts to be shelled to the conveyer at a point in advance of the first punch mechanism 13, the nuts being conveniently accommodated on the web 32 between adjacent slats 31. In a further modification shown in Fig. 15 the machine is constructed substantially as shown in Figs. 12 and 13, the web 32 however being replaced by a pair of endless chains 46 passing around pairs of sprockets 47 one at each end of the conveyer, one pair of sprockets 47 being driven by a driving crank or pulley 12a on a shaft 48 and the other of which are idler sprockets. A sprocket wheel 49 keyed on a shaft 50 on which is keyed a second sprocket wheel 51 engages one of the endless chains 46. Around the sprocket wheel 51 and around a further sprocket wheel 52 passes a second endless chain 53, the wheel 52 being keyed to a shaft 54 which is also keyed to the ejector mechanism 17, so that as the conveyer belt 30 is traversed the sprocket 49 is rotated and drives the associated ejector mechanism 13.