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US 4,300,447 AGranted
Nut blancher
AssigneeNorth Carolina State University at Raleigh
InventorMaurice W. Hoover
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device and a method for either the continuous or the batchwise removal (blanching) of skins from peanuts and other nut products are provided. The nut blanching device includes a rotatable cylinder containing a structure for introducing at least one jet of air along the inside of the cylinder. By placing nuts in this cylinder, nuts are carried along by the rotation of the cylinder into a head-on collision with air from the air jet. The nuts are thus, blanched within the cylinder by a combination of abrasive forces and the force of air.
Claims12
A device for blanching nuts comprising:
- (a) a hollow cylinder capable of holding nuts therein and mounted for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis;
- (b) means for rotating said cylinder about said longitudinal axis so that nuts contained therein partially rotate therewith;
- and (c) air jet means disposed within said cylinder, for directing at least one jet of air within said cylinder substantially contra to the direction of rotation thereof so that the jet of air impacts the rotating nuts substantially head-on to effect removal of the skins thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.