GB1233164A - - Google Patents

Abstract

1,233,164. Removing the skins from shelled peanuts. CASHEW CO. Ltd. 5 Feb., 1969 [2 Sept., 1968], No. 6320/69. Heading A2Q. A machine for removing the skins from shelled peanuts comprises a hopper 16 for receiving the shelled nuts, a rotary valve 14 operated intermittently to deliver a measured quantity of the nuts into successive open-bottomed containers 35 secured to an endless chain 25 which is passed around a driving sprocket wheel 23 and an idler sprocket wheel 24 carried by a shaft 22, the containers sliding over the table 41, and a rotary table 32 driven by a shaft 31 to rotate in the opposite direction to the sprocket wheel 24, the upper surface of the rotary table 32 being provided with a sheet of wire netting 33 comprising radial wires 33a and circumferential wires threaded under and over the radial wires, the upwardly and forwardly facing portions of the circumferential wires being ground to provide flats 34 having sharp edges which rub underneath the peanuts in the containers to remove the skins. The chain 25 is driven step-by-step so that the bottom layer of peanuts in each container is periodically changed as the movement of the containers agitates the peanuts. After leaving the rotary table, the skinned peanuts pass back on to the table 41 and are discharged through a slot in the table into a shoot 42. The removed skins are swept off the rotary table by a combination of centrifugal force and suction provided by a suction device arranged around the periphery of the rotary table.