BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The current invention relates to a decorticating device, a machine in general used for de-shelling or cracking off the harder outer shell of raw cashew nuts.

Decorticating devices of various constructions are already available in the present market which operates automatically as well (power operated) as well as manually. Out of the above mentioned categories, the latter is used widely. This is because of the availability of machines as well as labour and higher output compared with its automatic variants.

It will be appreciated that the cashew decorticator, in order to be marketable and usable, will have to satisfy several requirements towards the quality of the decortications performed and its efficiency. However the crucial and the most important consideration that has to be kept in mind is that, the overall expense in the manufacturing and maintenance of the machine should not exceed the profitable limit for the entrepreneur.

But the present day scenario indicates that the man power in this industrial sector is not sufficient to meet a profitable output. Hence automation is inevitable in this field of industry. Inventors all over the world are sorting out a solution by developing automatic decorticating machines which are cheaper, at the same time profitable.

The present inventions mainly aim in reducing the production cost, labour, and power consumption etc, at the same time increasing the profit. Moreover the machine has to be safe, low repairing cost, easy manoeuvrability, ease in installation and transportation. A few numbers of machines are already available in the market for the purpose of decortications of raw cashews. While these machines aim high productivity, their cost size and manoeuvrability still poses a serious disadvantage for its efficient marketing.

The most important point that is to be noted while using the automated decorticators, there should be least or no damage at all to the so called "Cashew Nut" which is safely enclosed within the raw cashew nut shell.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, the general objective is to avoid the disadvantages of the prior arts of automated decorticating machines.

Precisely speaking, the objects of the present invention are to propose a decorticating machine which is free of the above mentioned disadvantages of the similar machines. The first objective of the invention is to invent a machine which yields maximum quality output (90%) comparing to the existing (40-50%) machineries.

A further objective of the invention is to construct an Automatic Cashew Decorticating machine so that the previously existing need of manual operation for decortications can be compensated. A further object of the present invention of the so called Cashew decorticating machine is to considerably reduce the effective work area, labour, etc and at the same time increasing the productivity. Moreover, the parts are designed in such a way that there is least energy wastage and low energy consumption.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide maximum safety for the operator of the machine that can be handled even by unskilled personnel, yet reliable. Moreover, the machine should be simple in its construction, easy to clean and maintain, and comparatively cheap than the other available variants. Another object to invent a machine which is very compact, occupies less space and ease in assembly, installation and transportation.

To assist with the understanding of the invention, reference will now be made with accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION QF THE DRAWINGS

FIG: 1 shows the front-left view of the Automated Cashew Decorticating machine.

FIG: 2 shows the back-right view of the Automated Cashew Decorticating machine.

FIG: 3 shows the cashew nut holding device consists of various parts such as the lower cup (15) carrier (23), the upper cup (16) carrier (8) and the bi- borked cup controller hand (25)

FIG: 4 shows the Lock assembly and its constituting parts.

FIG: 5 shows the gear box assembly (20).

FIG: 6 shows the position of the timer assembly (35a) and (35b).

FIG:7 shows the upper cup releaser ratchet (20a) and chain assembly (20b)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the FIG: 1 it can be seen that, the raw cashew nuts are aligned in the vibrator device (1), which passes through conveyor system (3), in the specifically aligned manner. Conveyor (3) is controlled by sprocket (2) which is synchronously attached with gear box setup (20) via a chain (4) 75 and sprocket (6). The cashew nuts move through the conveyor setup (3) and when it reaches the other end, it is pushed into the router channel (9) by a pusher (5). Pusher (5) further pushes the kernel to the cashew nut holding lower cup (15) which is mounted on the lower cup mounting bracket(23a)(FIG: 3).

80 The timer assembly (35a) controls the flow of cashew nut through the conveyor so that only one cashew nut reaches the pusher (5) at a time. The timer assembly is in turn controlled by the timing cam (35b). The position of the timer assembly is as shown in the FIG: 6.

As soon as the cashew nut is placed in the lower cup (15), the pusher (5)

85 rises up, the action that is controlled by a cam (19) attached with the gear box (20). When the pusher (5) rises, it is brought back to the normal position by the backward movement of the slider (18) attached to the gear box (20) by means of cam and a connect rod (18a). The forward and backward movement of the pusher (5) is thus being controlled by slider

90 (18). Immediately after the cashew nut being placed on the lower cup (15), upper cup (16) moves down, and the kernel is caught tightly between the two cups (15) and (16). Cup (16) is mounted on a cup carrier assembly (8).

Cup carrier assembly (8) as shown in FIG: 3 show the upper cup (16), pins (8a), recoil springs (8b) and (8d), cup holder (8c), and a mounting frame 95 (8e). Cup carrier (8) is attached to gear box (20), via a bi-forked cup controller hand assembly (25).

Bi-forked cup controller hand assembly (25) as shown in FIG: 3 shows the bi-fork (25a), a roller (25b), that comes in contact with the upper cup releaser ratchet (20a), which controls the up and down movement of (25), 100 in the gear box assembly (20), and a mounting frame (25c). The up and down movement of the bi-forked cup controller hand assembly (25) is involved in the catching and releasing of the cashew kernel between the two cups (15) and (16), which together constitutes the catcher mechanism. The cup carrier setup is in turn mounted over slider setup (7). The to and

105 fro motion of the slider is in turn controlled by the chain (20b) of the gear box assembly (20)as shown in FIG:5.

Once the cashew nut is tightly caught between the cups (15) and (16), the whole setup moves forward due to the forward movement of slider setup (7). Once the cashew nut in the cups reaches in position with the face of 1 10 blade holders (21) and (22) the movement of catcher halts in position. Blade holder (22) has "M" shape and clasps an "M" shaped blade within its groove. While the blade holder (21) has a "V" shape and grips a "V" shaped blade within its groove. The "M" and "V" shaped blades are involved in the decortications of the raw cashew nuts.

115 As soon as (15) and (16) catches the cashew nut and moves forward, and reaches in position with the blade holders, "M" Blade holder (22) moves forward, which is attached with slider setup (24) and the lock assembly (17) keeps the slider in position without moving back, during the impact with the raw cashew nut. The pin (17a) of the lock assembly (17), as

120 shown in FIG: 4, moves up into the slider and locks the slider in position. Lock assembly (17) being controlled by the cam (29b) attached with the gear box (20) via the extended lock hand (17c). (17b) shows the fixing frame of the lock with the machine table.

The to and fro motion of the slider (24) is synchronised with the gear box 125 (20) by means of flange (27) and connect rod (26)As soon as the raw cashew nut is jammed between the blades in holders (21) and (22), cups (15) and (16) release its hold from the cashew nut. Cup (16) moves up in action synchronous with the upper cup carrier assembly (8) and bi-forked cup controller hand (25). At the same time, lower cup (15) moves down. 130 The lower cup (15) is mounted over the lower cup carrier assembly (23) that controls the up and down movement of the lower cup (15). Assembly (23) is in turn connected with the gear box (20) via a flat (14) and cam (29a), that subsequently controls the up and down movement of cup (15).

Once both the cups release from the cashew nut, the "V" blade holder

135 twists in clockwise direction through an angle of 80 degrees. This twisting action is in turn controlled by bevel gears fixed in the gear post (11) and L-

Bracket (12) that supports the "V" holder also. Gear post (11) is synchronously attached with the gear box (20) by means of flat (13) and cam (13a). Flat (13) is attached with the gear box (20) via a flange (28).

140 The twisting action breaks off the shell of the cashew nut and releases the cashew kernel that is safely surrounded by the outer shell.

The sliders (7), (18), and (24), works horizontally in synchronisation with the Gear box (20). Gear box (20) in turn is attached with a motor (31) by means of two sprockets (30) and (33) and a chain (32), shown in FIG:2.

145 It can be seen that the whole assembly is mounted over a table frame work (34) and works on electric power.

By the use of automated cashew decorticating machine, the cashew nuts are decorticated effectively with minimal damage to the kernel inside the shell.

150