The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 18, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 06, 2005
James B. Quantz, Lexington, SC (US);
Pascal W. Pitts, Cayce, SC (US);
John L. Feaster, Columbia, SC (US);
James B. Quantz, Lexington, SC (US);
Pascal W. Pitts, Cayce, SC (US);
John L. Feaster, Columbia, SC (US);
Machine Design Incorporated, West Columbia, SC (US);
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.