The Nut Cracker and Pick: Toothed Jaws That End in a Hook and a Scoop

"The jaws e f are curved outwardly, so that the broader space between them, when closed, is near the pivot or joint c, so as to have the necessary leverage for large nuts." "The end of the jaw e is reduced in thickness, and formed with a hooked point, i, that is adapted to use as a nut-pick; and the end of the jaw f is also reduced in thickness, and may be used as a scoop or pick, l, and the two parts i l form together forceps, by which the meat can be grasped and pulled out of the shell of the nut".

**Bars.** Cut two 20 cm lengths of 20 × 5 mm mild steel flat bar. Drill a 6.5 mm hole 7 cm from one end of each for the pivot. **Jaws.** Heat the short end of each bar with the torch and bend it outward in the vice, so that with the bars crossed at the holes the jaws leave a wider gap near the pivot than at the tips. Let them cool. **Teeth and tips.** File a row of V-teeth down the middle of each jaw's inside face with the triangular file. File one tip thin and bend it into a small hook; file the other thin and flat into a scoop. Round every edge. **Pivot and spring.** Bolt the bars together with an M6 bolt and two nuts locked against each other. Seat a compression spring between the handles just behind the pivot so they spring open. **Test.** Crack five walnuts and five pecans with each nut close to the pivot, and five of each near the tips; note which crack and how hard it was. Lift the meat out with the hook and scoop and count the halves that come out whole. Compare with a bought nutcracker.

**Samuel Poole** of Brooklyn, New York, signed US 198,678 on 20 November 1877, filed it on 22 November and received it dated 25 December 1877. His claims cover the lever handles with curved, toothed jaws, the pick at one jaw's end, and jaws thinned at the ends to form forceps; a spring between the handles opened them. **Honest limits.** Bent flat bar and an M6 bolt stand in for Poole's shaped jaws and pivot, and a compression spring for his. The notebook ignores the jaws' curve and friction; its squeeze and lengths are examples. Your cracking and whole-half counts are the result.