Patent ID: 7234393

Claim:
A nutcracker, comprising: an impeller adapted to be rotated about a vertical central axis, comprising a central intake, substantially centered on the vertical central axis, for feeding nuts into a center portion of the impeller, and a plurality of opposed hollow, cylindrical impeller tubes radially extending outwardly from the center portion of the impeller to respective terminal discharge openings, wherein the impeller tubes are angled downwardly from the center portion at a predetermined angle relative to the vertical central axis; a vertical drive shaft extending upwardly beneath the impeller along the vertical central axis and terminating at the underside of the impeller; a motor for rotating the vertical drive shaft to spin the impeller so that the nuts received at the central intake of the impeller are accelerated within the impeller tubes; and an impact ring surrounding the impeller and positioned so that nuts ejected from the discharge openings of the impeller tubes hit the impact ring.