Problem Statement:

Manually cracking walnuts is a very tedious, low output and time consuming task. Mushtaq Ahmad Dar (28), a young innovator from Kashmir, has developed a machine that can crack walnuts and peel the green ones. He has also made a portable climber that can be used to climb trees and poles. Presently he is developing a machine for cracking almonds.

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Detail:

The device is a walnut cracking machine that can process dry walnuts of various sizes, shapes and hardness and crack them open without damaging the fruit inside. The major components of the unit consist of a feeding hopper at the top, twin rollers with specific geometries to grip the walnut and deliver impact action, bearing support, a motor with a belt and pulley drive arrangement, related electrical circuits, and a metal flap angled at 45 degree located at the bottom to slide out the cracked walnuts. The walnuts are fed from the top through the feeding hopper made of plywood. They slide down to the two grooved rollers, one of which is powered and the other free to rotate. The gap between the rollers can be adjusted from 0.5 to 2.5 cm depending on the walnut size and shape. This setting can be adjusted by the operator anytime from outside the unit

Knowledge Provider / Innovator: Mushtaq Ahmed Dar
Address: "S/o. Late Gh. Nabi DarKreriDouru
City: Anantnag
State: Jammu and Kashmir
PIN Code 192211

Link: The prior art describes manual and mechanized methods and devices for cracking walnuts. In manual methods, the cracking is done using hands or hammers, which often destroys the fruit inside the walnut. Some of the available machines use hammers, levers, and switch trips to break the nuts. However, most of these machines cannot handle variations in shape and sizes. In many of them the fruit gets damaged during the grip and the impact. Also, most of the imported machines are complex units costing more than Rs 70,000 and not suited to meet the needs of small growers.As an affordable local solution (estimated to cost around Rs. 6000), which eliminates drudgery and increases productivity in a safe and simple way, this innovation is of immediate relevance to thousands of households in the Kashmir valley who are engaged in the dry fruits trade. With this machine, the innovator is able to process ten fold of what he would have with a skilled labour on one man day.
Manufacturing Capacity: b) Design Support, c) Sub-contracting, e) Franchising
Problem Scale: Locally in india