WO2012028933A2

WO2012028933A2 - Hulling machine

Info

Publication number: WO2012028933A2
Application number: PCT/IB2011/001997
Authority: WO
Inventors: Stefano Massari; Piero Bruni
Original assignee: Oltremare S.R.L.
Priority date: 2010-08-31
Filing date: 2011-08-30
Publication date: 2012-03-08
Also published as: ITRA20100024A1; WO2012028933A3

Abstract

An operating machine (1) usable to treat kidney-shaped nuts (2); the machine comprising a collecting station (20), arranged upstream of a feeding station (40) along a feeding direction (DA), and at least one hulling station (30) in mutual alignment according to a given feeding direction (DA) of the nuts (2); each hulling station (30) comprising a guillotine-like device (32) provided with a first cutting member (320) and with a second cutting member (322) opposite to each other; the second cutting member (322) presenting, at the side of the first cutting member (320), a substantially central projection (328); each hulling station (30) comprising a centring device (70) suitable to place each nut (2) longitudinally inside the guillotine- like device (32) with a respective concave segment (PI) centred relative to the projection (328).

Description

HULLING MACHINE

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an operating machine. In particular, the present invention relates to an operating machine validly usable for hulling seeds from respective nuts. In greater detail, the present invention relates to an operating machine validly usable for hulling cashew seeds from respective nuts.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Machines of various type are well known in the field of hullers and shellers for mechanizing the extraction of a cashew seed from the respective shell. The problems in cashew nut hulling mechanisation are numerous, in addition to the fact that the nuts contain skin urticant oil. A big problem is due in particular to the irregular shape of the nuts, that are kidney shaped. As it is well known, the cashew nuts are mainly produced in tropical areas; they present a central hump and are therefore kidney shaped. Each nut presents a pair of half-shells that are substantially mutually symmetrical and coupled along a longitudinal median plane through respective edges comprising a concave segment and a convex segment corresponding to the central hump. The concave and convex segments are substantially parallel to each other and connected by means of arched segments, usually similar in shape and dimension. On the contrary, the seed contained by the nut is shaped like a very arched big comma, and therefore presents two end portions of different dimension. Observing a group of cashew nuts in profile you can verify that, if the seeds are selected according to height classes of different value, based upon the distance between two parallel straight lines, drawn tangential to the two arched segments and to the central hump, it should be noted that the longitudinal extensions of the nuts can be very different. In view of these remarks it is easily understood that the extraction of intact seeds from the respective nuts - that is a necessary condition for maximising the economic yield in marketing these seeds - requires particular attention to the operations of selecting the nuts, of feeding them to, and holding in, the cutting and hulling station. There are a lot of prior art documents about the mechanical hulling of cashews, even if only few of them concentrated on the mentioned subjects with the aim of solving them, usually solving, by highly automating the hulling process, only the problem of limiting as much as possible the use of skilled manpower that lack the countries where the nuts are produced and collected. Among the documents focussed to a greater extent on the need for manufacturing hullers able to produce intact seeds, the patents US 3889583, US 6125743, and GB 1032594 are well known. The patent document US 3889583 discloses teachings useful for manufacturing a machine provided with devices for directing the seeds in an identical manner, feeding them to a cutting station, where the shells are separated by acting along the median plane with a pair of opposite knives, each of which is carried movable inside a slot obtained in a V-shaped element, to grip a nut at the respective hump and/or the respective arched segments, and guide a blade grooving the shell and splitting it into two half-shells. No particular solutions/devices are described for facing the problem of correctly putting the knives and the cashew nuts in phase; by following the teachings of the mentioned patent you are not therefore sure of cutting the nuts without crushing the seeds. In the patent document US 6125743 the operating stations are arranged in a loop; two gripping stations are provided, each of which fed by a feeding device, two grooving stations, each of which adjacent to a cutting station, a pair of splitting station and two unloading stations. The cutting operation is in this case preceded by the execution of a groove on the shell outer surface, to facilitate the subsequent splitting into two parts, avoiding contamination of the finished product with shell pieces. It is easily understood that this solution is adequate for substantially spherical or axially symmetrical seeds, and therefore not for cashew seeds. GB 1032594 discloses teachings for manufacturing a hulling station for cashew nuts moved forwards stepwise transversally to their own median plane by means of a device provided with a plurality of longitudinally open and uniformly distributed seats. Each nut stops opposite a cutting station and a pusher moves it forwards inside a matrix, where two jaws elastically hold it transversally, and a pair of opposite knives divides the shell into two parts acting along a plane approximating the median plane of the nut. The two knives are shaped according to the shape of the concave and convex segments of the half-shell edges and a mechanism is provided to rotate the upper knife once the shell has been engraved so as to obtain the final separation of the half-shells. No mention is made about the nut stepwise arrangement;^- the nut positioning inside the matrix is defined only partially, taking into account the reference in view of the above description relative to the longitudinal extensions of the nuts to ensure that the knife, shaped to take into account the concave portion_T—±-& focuoscd—of}—it, with the result that a great quantity of nuts will be crushed in a completely unexpected manner, a¾d with—th-e—conocqucnt—breakage—e-f-—as a great plurality of seeds .

In view of the above description, the problem of hulling cashew nuts and singularly feeding them stepwise towards a hulling station, so as to ensure that each nut is cut maintaining the seed inside it intact, is still unsolved and represents an interesting challenge for the applicant, in order to maximise the economic yield of the hulling process of cashew nuts and the like.

In view of the situation described above, it would be desirable to have available a hulling machine which, in addition to enabling to limit and possibly to overcome the typical drawbacks of the prior art illustrated above, could define a new standard for these types of equipment in a simple and economical manner.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide an operating machine, which allows the disadvantages described above to be solved, which is suitable to satisfy a plurality of requirements that to date have still not been addressed, and therefore suitable to represent a new and original source of economic interest, capable of modifying the current market of the hulling machines for cashews and other nuts of more regular shape.

According to the present invention, an operating machine is provided, whose main characteristics will be described in at least one of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the operating machine according to the present invention will be more apparent from the description below, set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate some non-limiting examples of embodiment, in which identical or corresponding parts of the device are identified by the same reference numbers. In particular:

- figure 1 is a perspective view with some parts removed for the sake of clarity of a machine according to the present invention;

- figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of figure 1 with some parts removed from the sake of clarity;

- figure 3 is a first side elevation view in enlarged scale, partially cut away, of a portion of figure 1 ;

figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view in enlarged scale of a detail extracted from figure 3;

- figure 5 is a side elevation view in enlarged scale, partially cut away, of a portion of figure 1;

- figure 6 is a plan view of a detail extracted from figure 5;

- figure 7 is a schematic perspective view in enlarged scale and with some parts removed for the sake of clarity of a portion of figure 1;

- figure 8 is a schematic perspective view of a part of figure 7 with some parts removed from the sake of clarity;

- figure 9 is a schematic perspective view in enlarged scale and with some parts removed for the sake of clarity of a detail extracted from figure 7;

- figure 10 is a side elevation view, partially cut away, of figure 9;

- figure 11 is a side elevation view of a portion of figure 7 with some parts removed for the sake of clarity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In figure 1 number 1 indicates, in its entirety, an operating machine validly usable for hulling cashew seeds from respective notoriously kidney shaped nuts. With reference to figure 4, each nut, that without limiting the scope of the present invention will be hereafter indicated with the reference number 2, presents a pair of substantially symmetrical half-shells S coupled along a longitudinal median plane PML across respective edges B, each of which comprises a concave segment PI and a convex segment P2 substantially parallel to each other and connected by means of convex arched segments TA. Each nut 2 contains a seed of substantially arched shape, which will be indicated hereafter with the reference number 3.

With reference to figure 1 again, the machine 1 comprises a frame 10 provided with some uprights 12 and with a pair of side panels 14, only on of which is visible for the sake of simplicity of the drawing. The frame 10 supports a collecting station 20 and at least one hulling station 30 for hulling nuts 2 that are arranged aligned to one another according to a given feeding direction DA. The collecting station 20 presents a hopper 22 for nuts 2 arranged upstream of a conveying device 21, which precedes a feeding station 40, which is in turn arranged between the collecting station 20 and the hulling station 30 along the feeding direction DA. In particular, the conveying device 21 is provided with a feeding channel 210. With particular reference to figure 6, the feeding station 40 comprises a plate 91 presenting a plurality of parallel slits 92 arranged along the feeding direction DA. To each slit 92 corresponds a track 42 extending until the corresponding hulling station 30. The feeding station 40 is furthermore provided with a selective overturning unit 50 of the type known from the patent document IT 1279952 of the applicant, or of any other functionally similar type, designed to receive the nuts 2 due to gravity from the hopper 22 on the tracks 42 and then to arrange the nuts with the respective concave segment PI and convex segment P2 substantially coplanar with a given vertical plane PV, with the concave segment PI facing the tracks 42.

In view of the above description, each track 42 is suitable to guide each nut 2 from the exit of the hopper 22 to the respective hulling station 30. To the selective overturning unit 50 and to each track 42 is associated an elastic directing device 43, suitable to receive a nut 2 and to maintain it with a vertical median plane PMW thereof perpendicular to the plane of the sheet in figure 6. Each elastic device 43 is provided with a pair of first elongated foils 44, hinged to the plate 91 near the conveying device 21 and elastically pushed one against the other in a known manner to define pliers 46 arranged horizontally in figure 6. Each elastic device 43 furthermore comprises a pair of second foils 45, each of which is arranged in series and substantially aligned with a foil 44 to guide each nut 2 received from the first foils 44 towards the corresponding hulling station 30.

With reference to figure 5 and to figure 6, to each track 42 an annular feeding member 93 of the selective overturning unit 50 is associated, visible only in figure 5. Each feeding member 93 comprises a plurality of uniformly spaced thrust member 95, each of which is L- shaped and presents a housing 96 provided with a base and with a shoulder to support a nut 2 and to move it forwards along the slits 92 of the tracks 42, between two pairs of first foils 44 and of second foils 45. Each thrust member 95 presents greater extension than the average longitudinal extension of the nuts 2, and therefore lower than the length of a pair of nuts 2 arranged longitudinally in series and into reciprocal contact. To each track 42 a trap member 90 is associated, comprising a cavity 98 obtained in each track 42 at the exit to the selective overturning unit 50 and aligned with the thrust members 95. Each cavity 98 is dimensioned so as to be crossed, due to gravity, by the nuts 2 fed randomly in excess along the track 42 by one of the thrust members 95, maintained with the relative longitudinal median plane P L substantially coplanar with a vertical plane in figure 6 by the first foils 44 and by the second foils 45, and therefore allows to arrange the nuts 2 stepwise along the corresponding track 42. It should be noted that each first foil 44 presents, at the side of the respective hulling station 30, a segment 47 with increased thickness in end position, whose aim is, in use, the control of an extra-opening of the pliers 46 when a nut 2 passes in the cavity 98, so as to facilitate the fall due to gravity of a nut 2 fed randomly in excess by one of the thrust members 95 passing in this area. In particular, each segment 47 presents a coupling portion 48 at the side of the conveying device 21, followed by a segment 49 of substantially constant thickness, continuing until the free end of the corresponding first foil 44.

With particular reference to figures 2 and 3, the collecting station 20 comprises a rotating member 24 contained inside the hopper 22 upstream of the conveying device 21. The rotating member 24 can be actuated by the actuating device 61 through a mechanical transmission of the known type, whose description has been omitted for the sake of practicality. The rotating member 24 is provided with a plurality of pick-up members 26 arranged radially at a given angular distance between two respective discs 27. With particular reference to figure 4, each pick-up member 26 presents a bush 260 centrally provided with a crown 261 suitable to be held between the two discs 27 and provided with an axial conical hole 262 with increasing development, to help each nut 2 in moving forwards due to fall towards a subsequent conveying device 21, taking into account the remarks about the selection of the nuts 2, which is performed according to the height and not the length to avoid the risk of severing the nuts and the obviously consequent problems. The discs 27 are substantially identical, provided with a housing 280 for each pick-up member 26, so as to select nuts 2 with maximum transverse dimension compatible with the circular hole 262 and connecting members 28 of the releasable type, normally bolts, known and therefore not numbered, suitable to tighten in a close manner the two discs 27 to hold the pick-up members 26 in position. Therefore, every time it is necessary to change the format of the nuts 2 to be fed to the tracks 42 it is sufficient to separate the two discs 27 and to replace the bushes 260, without the need for having available a pair of discs for each format of the nuts 2, therefore without the consequent difficulties for manufacturing and storing a significant disc quantity, and without the necessary maintenance and the connected costs.

To allow the nuts 2 to pass from the collecting station 20 to the tracks 42, the hopper 22 presents a plurality of service slots 23, equal in number to the tracks 42 and visible only in figure 3, where they are represented with a broken line. Each slot 23 presents an arched shape and is obtained in a respective wall of the hopper 22 bordering the conveying device 21. These service slots 23 present given angular extension relative to the centre of rotation of the rotating member 24 proportioned to the speed of rotation of the same rotating member 24, so as to leave the nuts 2 a sufficient time to access freely the holes 262 of the bushes 260 and to free them du to gravity, subsequently occupying the feeding channels 210 of the conveying device 21, thus avoiding being cut and leaving waste that in the long run could cause operation problems to the collecting station 20 and thus to the machine 1. To communicate easily with these service slots 23, the pick-up members 26 are associated with the discs 27 organised in groups G mutually aligned tangentially to a circumference concentric with the corresponding discs 27. Each group G comprises a given number N of respective pickup members 26 and allows to organise the nuts 2 taken from the hopper 22 on rows F and to feed contextually a given number N of nuts 2 to the hulling stations 30.

With reference to figure 7, each hulling station 30 comprises a guillotine-like device 32 for each track 42. In particular, each guillotine-like device 32 is provided with a first cutting member 320 and with a second cutting member 322 substantially opposite to each other.

The machine 1 furthermore comprises an actuating unit 60 provided with a single actuating device 61 carried laterally by one of the plates 14 of the frame 10 to give power to each operating unit of the machine 1 through the use of adequate mechanical transmission members, as it will be better described below. The actuating unit 60 is mechanically connected to the first and the second cutting member 320, 322 to move them vertically with a substantially opposite alternating motion one relative to the other in order to groove and, subsequently, to split the shells S of each nut 2 and to free the respective seed 3 fully intact, as it will be better explained below.

With reference to figure 1 and to figure 7, the frame

10 carries a first equipment 330 defined by a substantially prismatic crossbeam arranged inside the hulling station 30 in a manner movable transversally to the feeding direction DA through a pair of rectilinear guides 100 carried rigidly by the plates 14 and arranged transversally to the tracks 42. Each first cutting member 320 comprises a block 321 carried in an angularly rotatable and axially fixed manner transversally to the tracks 42 by the first equipment 330 through the interposition of a cylindrical member 325. In particular, as illustrated only in figure 8, each first cutting member 320 comprises a first blade 324, arranged vertically in figure 8 and carried rigidly by the corresponding block 321, and a positioning device 326 containing the first blade 324 of each hulling station 30. The first blade 324 is arch-shaped at the side of, and facing, the second cutting member 322, so as to reproduce a mean shape of the convex segment P2 of each nut 2. On the other hand, the second cutting member 322 comprises a second blade 322', which is delimited at the side of the first cutting member 320 by a profile presenting centrally a projection 328 shaped reversely similarly to the concave segment PI of each nut 2 at the side of the first blade 324, being therefore shaped similarly to a shoemaker's knife (arbelos) .

With reference to what mentioned for the cashew selection and to the fact that the nuts 2 fed to the feeding member 93 could present different longitudinal extension, and could be therefore fed longitudinally out of phase to the hulling station 30 relative to the guillotine- like devices 32, the positioning device 326 must be designed to allow a regulation of the position of the nut 2 relative to the lower projection due to relative friction, so as to centre the nut relative to the projection.

Each positioning device 326 comprises a pair of mutually opposite guiding members 3260 with greater thickness than the corresponding first blade 324. The guiding members 3260 of each first blade 324 are arranged symmetrically and face the side flanks of the same first blade 324 to contain it and to guide it vertically in figure 8 in the movement towards the second cutting member 322 and are spaced from each other by a length slightly greater than the thickness of the same first blade 324. Furthermore, each guiding member 3260 is supported by the respective block 321 through the interposition of a pair of elastic members 332. Both the first blade 324 and each guiding member 3260 are delimited by profiles 324' and 326' arched at the side of the second cutting member 322 to reproduce a mean shape of the convex segment P2 of a nut 2 of dimensions meanly greater than the standard. It should be noted that to allow the guiding members 3260 to perform their function through their profiles 326', the longitudinal extension of each first blade 324 is lower than the longitudinal extension of each guiding member 3260 and the relative elastic members. In view of the above description it is easily understood that each first blade 324 can interact with the corresponding nut 2 to perform the cut only after that the profile 326' of each guiding member 3260 has come into contact with the profile P2 of the nut 2, to maintain and perfect the orientation with the respective longitudinal median plane PML arranged substantially aligned to the first and the second blades 324 and 322 ' .

In view of the above description, the profiles 326' of two guiding members 3260 form a sort of channel with movable edges than can adapt to the shape of the convex segment P2 of a nut 2; furthermore, the first blade 324 and each of the corresponding guiding members 3260 are free to move relatively in transverse direction to the tracks 42. This means that each guiding member 3260 can move freely relative to the corresponding first blade 324 vertically and, according to the deformability of the respective elastic members 332, also rotate around a substantially horizontal axis in figure 8. This allows each positioning device 326 to adapt, in use, both to the arrangement of the nut 2 and to the conformation of the nut 2, allowing a stable, even if temporary, shape-coupling between this latter and the positioning device 326 and, subsequently, allow the first blade 324 to divide the two half-shells S at the side of the relative convex segment P2.

With reference to figures 7 and 11, each hulling station 30 is provided with at least one vice-like unit 36, better visible in figures 9 and 10. Each vice-like unit 36 is movable with alternating motion relative to the frame 10 along the feeding direction DA to receive, in use, a nut 2 from the elastic directing device 43, to position each nut 2 inside the guillotine-like device 32 with the respective concave segment PI centred relative to the projection 328, and then to hold the nut 2 with the corresponding longitudinal median plane P L between the first and second cutting members 320, 322 arranged substantially vertically in the attached figures so as to prepare it to be taken by the respective positioning device 326 and then to be subsequent, without however limiting the scope of the present invention. Each vice-like unit 36 is carried in a sandwich-like manner between a first shaped body 363 and a second shaped body 365 rigidly coupled to each other transversally to the feeding direction DA through a plurality of spacers 361 and coupled in a slidable manner to the plates 14 parallel to the tracks 42 through lateral guides 15 (figures 7 and 11) to define a single transport group 37. The first shaped body 363 and the second shaped body 365 present respective slits 363' and 365' longitudinally open at the side of each hulling station 30, i.e. at opposite side from the hopper 22, so that each hulling station 30 can be crossed by the first cutting member 320 and by the second cutting member 322 parallel to the corresponding track 42 when, in use, the transport group 37 is moved longitudinally with alternating motion along the feeding direction DA. Each slit 365' presents respective side edges that are longitudinally chamfered to define a substantially V-shaped guide for the convex segment P2 of each nut 2. Furthermore, each vice-like unit 36 presents a substantially V-shaped first portion 362 facing the slit 365' to guide in a slidable manner each nut 2 interfaced with the respective arched segments TA along the feeding direction DA to the corresponding guillotinelike device 32. The first portion 362 comprises two symmetrically shaped gripping units 364 arranged at opposite sides from the corresponding track 42 to interact singularly with the convex segment P2 of ach half-shell S of a nut 2 to be engraved. The gripping units 364 are carried movable vertically relative to the respective slit 365', one independently of the other. In particular, each first portion 362 presents a pair of bases 366 arranged symmetrically relative to the slits 363' and 365'. With particular reference to figure 10, each base 366 is coupled to the second shaped body 365 in a free manner transversally to the feeding direction DA through a pair of pins 367 arranged transversally to the tracks 42 like the spacers 361 and against the thrust of an elastic retaining device 360. This elastic device 360 comprises a pair of springs that for practicality are indicated by the same reference number 360. Each gripping unit 364 further comprises, at the side of the collecting station 20, a projecting element 368 provided with a rounded entrance portion 369 ending, at the side of the hulling station 30, with a chamfered segment 370 substantially identical and symmetric to the corresponding edge of the slit 365'. The particular conformation of the edges of the slit 365 and of the entrance portions 369 and of the chamfered segments 370 and the action of the springs 360 allow, in use, to exert a gripping action of gradually increasing intensity on each nut 2 fed forwards along the respective track 42 allowing its longitudinal movement relative to the bases 366, ensuring that each nut 2 is maintained stably with the respective longitudinal median plane P L directed so as to be substantially coplanar with the corresponding first blade 324 once the hulling station 30 has been achieved. In view of the above description, each gripping unit 364 is free, in use, to move vertically and to adapt to the conformation of the nut 2 rotating around a direction substantially perpendicular to the tracks 42 and to the plane of figure 10. This allows to understand that the direction of the vice holding action exerted by each vicelike units 26 on each nut 2 upstream of the corresponding guillotine-like device is substantially vertical in figure 10.

With reference to figures 7, 8, and 11, each second cutting member 322 is carried rigidly by a second equipment 340, defined by a substantially prismatic crossbeam, through the interposition of a respective base 323 and this second equipment 340 is connected to the frame 10 in a slidable manner through the rectilinear guides 100 transversally to the tracks 42. Each guide 100 carries a torsion spring 102 between the first equipment 330 and the second equipment 340, acting as a spacer between the two respective crossbeams. The actuating unit 60 comprises a respective drive shaft 63 supported by the two plates 14 below the second equipment 340 and connected to the actuating device 61 through an angle mechanical drive of the known type. The shaft 63 carries near each plate 14 a cam 65 to which the first equipment 330 and the second equipment 340 are connected mechanically. In particular, the second equipment 340 carries at the bottom, for each cam 65, a rod 342 coupled in a rolling manner to the periphery of this latter through a roller 344 carried in end position so as to be controlled in position parallel to the guides 100; the first equipment 330 is controlled in position along the guides 100 through a pair of four-bar linkages 333, substantially identical to each other, each of which is supported by a corresponding plate 14 through two pins 334 and 335. Each four-bar linkage 333 comprises a first rocker 336 coupled to the pin 334 in an angularly free manner, a substantially V-shaped second rocker 337, coupled at a respective vertex in an angularly free manner to the pin 335 and presenting a first and a second arms 337' and 337' The first arm 337' is arranged at the side of the first rocker 336 and the second arm extends above the crossbeam of the first equipment 330. Each four-bar linkage 333 furthermore comprises a connecting rod 338 that connects the first arm 337' to the first rocker 336 and each second arm 337' ¹ carries in end position a roller 339 coupled in a rolling manner to a plate 331 carried rigidly by the first equipment 330 and substantially parallel to the feeding direction DA. On the other hand it should be noted that the first rocker 336 carries at opposite side from the connecting rod 338 a roller 339', coupled in a rolling manner to the respective cam 65 to control the change in position of the first equipment 330 along the guides 100, and therefore of the positioning devices 326 on the nuts 2 contained in the vice-like unit 36, to centre them on the corresponding projections 328. It should be noted that each roller 344 is positioned relative to the roller 339' on the respective cam 65 in series with the roller 339' and, in particular, at the side of the second equipment 340 in figure 11 to actuate the first equipment 330 and the second equipment 340 with opposite alternating motion along the guides 100 and out of phase, and therefore to actuate out of phase also the set of the positioning devices 326, of the first blades 324 and of the corresponding second cutting members 322. It should be specified that the choice of using two cams 65 arranged near the flanks of the machine 1 defined by the plates 14 allows to exert a balanced action on the nuts 2 arranged in the hulling stations, and this allows to uniform the cutting conditions with the advantage of a correct grooving of the nuts and maintaining the seeds 3 intact.

With reference to figures 7 and 11, the drive shaft 63 carries keyed a further cam 67, in a substantially central position, connected to the transport group 37 through a slider-crank mechanism 38 comprising a lever 380 hinged to the frame 10 at opposite side of the shaft 63 relative to the second equipment 340 and coupled in a rolling manner to a track obtained on a face of the same cam 67. The lever 380 is coupled in an end position with the second shaped body 365 through a sliding coupling 382 to control the alternating motion of the vice-like units 36 along the given direction DA. In use, every time each vice-like unit 36 has moved forwards a nut 2 received by a corresponding thrust member 95 towards the corresponding guillotine-like device 32, lowering the positioning device 326, and in particular the respective guiding members 3260, can cause the longitudinal displacement of the nut 2 inside the vicelike unit 36 relative to the corresponding profiles 326' to allow it to adapt to the cutting phase in the best way. Thanks to this, the concave segment PI of the nut 2 is centred on the projection 328, and the nut 2 is therefore correctly positioned to hull the relative seed 3 intact. In view of the above description, the set of each vice-like unit 36, of each positioning device 326 together with the corresponding four-bar linkage 333, defines a centring unit associated with the corresponding hulling station 30 that, for the sake of practicality, will be indicated with the reference number 70.

Obviously, the particular structure of the machine 1 allows to define phasing of the cam 67 and of the cams 65 according to the different user's needs. However, the most useful phasing is the phasing allowing to actuate in succession the transport group 37 to move forwards a nut 2 in the hulling station 30, a first lowering of the positioning device 326 on the nut 2 to centre the respective concave segment PI on the projection 328 of the second cutting member 322 and control the relative movement towards of the first blade 324 and of the second cutting member 322, as described above. For the sake of practicality, the device allowing to rotate the first blades 324 relative to the second cutting members 322 has not been described, even if in the attached drawings sufficient graphic information can be found to understand the operation thereof, known in the prior art, for example through the patent document GB 1032594.

The use of the machine 1 described above is readily apparent in view of the above description and requires no additional explanations.

Lastly, it is apparent that modifications and variants can be made to the machine 1 described and illustrated herein, without however departing from the protective scope of the present invention.

It should be specified that the actuating plane of the first blades 324 and of the second cutting members 322, and also the direction of the longitudinal median plane PML of the nuts 2, can be inclined at will according to the specific needs, without however departing from the protective scope of the present invention.

It is easily understood that the teachings contained herein are useful to manufacture machines for hulling seeds contained in nuts with more regular shape than the shape of the cashew nuts, to which explicit reference has been made in the present description; these teachings can be used therefore also to manufacture machines usable for grooving almonds, hazelnuts and other similar fruits.

In view of the above description it is easily understood that the machine 1 described above allows to solve in an efficient and economical manner the problem of hulling the cashew nuts 2 and singularly to feed them stepwise to a hulling station 30 so as to ensure that each nut 2 is cut leaving the respective seed 3 intact, thus overcoming the typical drawbacks of the prior art in a simple and economical manner.

It is however easily understood that the teachings given to illustrate at least one embodiment of the present invention can be also used to manufacture an operating machine suitable for hulling nuts with more simple geometry, in particular with substantially convex conformation, whose seed also presents convex shape such as, for example, in the case of almonds and hazelnuts.

Claims

1. Operating machine (1) usable to treat kidney shaped nuts (2), each of which presenting a pair of half-shells (S) substantially symmetric to each other and coupled along a longitudinal median plane (PML) through respective edges (B) comprising a concave segment (PI) and a convex segment (P2) substantially parallel to each other and joined by convex arched segments (TA) ; each said nut (2) containing a seed (3) substantially arched in shape; said machine comprising a frame (10) supporting a collecting station (20) and at least one hulling station (30) arranged upstream of a feeding station (40) in mutual alignment according to a given feeding direction (DA) of said nuts (2) ; each said hulling station (30) comprising a guillotine-like device (32) provided with a first cutting member (320) and with a second cutting member (322) mutually opposite, substantially coplanar and movable, in use, in opposite direction to split said half-shells (S) by cutting them; each said first cutting member (320) being carried by said frame (10) in a movable manner transversally to said feeding direction (DA) and comprising a block (321) rigidly supporting a first blade (324); characterised in that each said first cutting member (320) comprises a positioning device (326) elastically supported by said block (321) and containing said first blade (324) to guide it longitudinally in use from and towards said second cutting member (322), in order to split said half- shells (S) of a said nut (2) .

2. A machine according to claim 1, characterised in that each said positioning device (326) comprises a pair of mutually facing guiding members (3260) arranged symmetrically at opposite sides of the same first blade (324) and spaced from each other by a length slightly greater than the thickness of the same first blade (324) to guide it, in use, in the movement towards the second cutting member (322); each said guiding member (3260) being connected to said block (321) through a pair of elastic members (332) and being delimited by a concave profile (326¹) at the side of said second cutting member (322) to define a channel with movable edges that can adapt to the shape of said convex segment (P2) of a nut (2) .

3. A machine according to claim 2, characterised in that the longitudinal extension of each said first blade (324) is lower than the longitudinal extension of each said guiding member (3260) and of the related elastic members to allow, in use, said first blade (324) to cut said nut (2) only after that said profile (326¹) of each said guiding member (3260) has contacted said profile (P2) of said nut (2) .

4. A machine according to claim 3, characterised in that each said hulling station (30) comprises vice-like means

(36) movable along said given feeding direction (DA) to move forwards, in use, each said nut (2) through said profile (326') to said guillotine-like device (32)and to fix it with the corresponding said longitudinal median plane (PML) substantially coplanar with said first blade (324), so as to allow said first and second cutting members (320, 322) to engrave each said nut (2) symmetrically.

5. A machine according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said feeding station (40) comprises a plate (91) supported by said frame (10) and provided with a plurality of mutually adjacent tracks (42) oriented according to said feeding direction (DA) to guide each said nut (2) to said hulling station (30) with said concave segment (PI) facing downwards.

6. A machine according to claim 5, characterised in that said vice-like means (36) are carried in a sandwich-like manner between a first shaped body (363) and a second shaped body (365) rigidly coupled to each other transversally to said feeding direction (DA) through a plurality of spacers (361) and coupled in a slidable manner to said frame (10) through lateral guides (15) parallel to said tracks (42) to define a single transport group (37) for a plurality of said nuts (2).

7. A machine according to claim 6, characterised in that said first shaped body (363) and the second shaped body (365) present longitudinally open respective slits (363', 365') for each said hulling station (30) so that each said hulling station (30) can be crossed by said first cutting member (320) and by the second cutting member (322) parallel to said feeding direction (DA) when, in use, the transport group (37) is moved along said feeding direction (DA) .

8. A machine according to claim 7, characterised in that each said slit (365') of said second shaped body (365) is designed so as to define a substantially V-shaped guide for said convex segment (P2) of each said nut (2); each said vice-like unit (36) presenting a substantially V-shaped first portion (362) facing said slit (365') of said second shaped body (365) to guide in a slidable manner each said nut (2) along said feeding direction (DA) to the corresponding said guillotine-like device (32).

9. A machine as claimed in claim 8, characterised in that said first portion (362) comprises two symmetrically shaped gripping units (364) arranged at opposite sides from a corresponding said track (42) to interact singularly with a said nut (2) to be engraved; said gripping units (364) being carried movable relative to the respective said slit (365* ) of said second shaped body (365), independently of each other.

10. A machine according to claim 9, characterised in that each said first portion (366) presents a pair of bases

(366) arranged symmetrically relative to the slits (363', 365'); each said base (366) being coupled to said second shaped body (365) in a free manner transversally to the feeding direction (DA) against the thrust of an elastic retaining device (360); each gripping unit (364) furthermore comprising, at the side of said collecting station (20), a projecting element (368) provided with a rounded entrance portion (369) ending, at the side of the corresponding said hulling station (30), with a chamfered segment (370) symmetric to the corresponding edge of said slit (365') of said second shaped body (365).

11. A machine according to any one of claims 5 to 10, characterised in that each said track (42) extends from said collecting station (20) to the respective said hulling station (30); an directing elastic device (43) being associated to each said track (42), to receive a said nut (2) and to maintain it with a vertical median plane (PMV) thereof arranged perpendicular to said plate (91).

12. A machine according to claim 11, characterised in that each elastic device (43) is provided with a pair of first elongated foils (44), hinged to said plate (91) near said collecting station (20) and elastically pushed one against the other in a known manner to define pliers (46); each said elastic device (43) furthermore comprising a pair of second foils (45), each of which being arranged in series and substantially aligned with a corresponding said foil (44) to guide each said nut (2) from said first foils (44) to the corresponding said hulling station (30).

13. A machine according to claim 12, characterised in that each said first foil (44) presents, at the side of the respective hulling station (30), a segment (47) with increased thickness in end position, whose aim is, in use, the control of an extra-opening of said pliers (46) when a nut (2) passes.

14. A machine according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said collecting station (20) is provided with a hopper (22) for said nuts (2) arranged upstream of said feeding station (40) ; said hopper (22) comprising a rotating member (24) provided with a plurality of pick-up members (26) arranged radially at given angular distance; each said pick-up member (26) presenting a bush (260) presenting a conical hole (262) with increasing development to facilitate feeding said nuts (2) to a corresponding said track (42).

15. A machine according to claim 14, characterised in that said rotating member (24) comprises at least two discs (27) substantially identical to each other, provided with a housing (280) for each said bush (262), so as to select nuts (2) with maximum transverse dimension compatible with said conical hole (262) and connecting means (28) suitable to tighten in a close manner said two discs (27) to hold said pick-up members (26) in position.

16. A machine according to claim 15, characterised in that said hopper (22) presents a plurality of service holes (23) arranged aligned on a row transverse to said given feeding direction (DA); said pick-up members (26) being associated with said discs (27) organised in groups (G) mutually aligned tangentially to a circumference concentric with the corresponding discs (27), each said group comprising a given number (N) of respective pick-up members (26) , to pick up said nuts (2) from said hopper (22) organised on rows (F) to feed contextually to the respective said hulling stations (30) .