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Man has
created many different instruments to crack open the hard shell and
there are three different ways they operate: PERCUSSION, where the
nut is cracked by a striking action; LEVER,(Direct Pressure and
Indirect Pressure) where the nut is broken by 2 levers fastened
together; and the SCREW mechanism where there is more control on the
pressure put on the nut. PERCUSSION, LEVER, SCREW |
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 Animals and man have
depended on the nuts for food for thousands and thousands of years.
Since nuts were an important part of the diet, man has created many
different instruments to crack open the hard shell. It has been only
in the last century that nuts have come to us all shelled and neatly
packaged in plastic bags ready to eat. |
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 In the very early times,
rocks called ‘nutting stones’ were used to crack the nuts when they
were too hard for the teeth to crack. A nut is placed in the pitted
area and is hit by another nut called a ‘hammer stone’. This type of
cracking would be called ‘percussion’ because the nut is broken by
striking it. |
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| Hammers are also percussion nutcrackers and are often used to crack nuts. Special hammers have been made just for this. | |
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 There are other kinds of
percussion nutcrackers too. Here is a picture of a simple percussion
nutcracker and one called the Tough Nut made in 1897. You place the
nut in cavity, and strike it on the top to crack the nut. |
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When two pieces of wood or metal are joined together with a hinge, or other devise that allows the levers to turn, this part is called the ‘fulcrum’. If the nut is cracked between the hinge and your hand, then it is ‘direct pressure’. Here is a metal nutcracker your grandmother may have in her kitchen. Can you find the fulcrum? |
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| Some direct pressure nutcrackers are called ‘flip-overs’ or ‘reversibles’. They have one handle that will rotate 360 degrees so that it will accommodate larger nuts. | |
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 A nutcracker made like a
pair of pliers, with the nut being cracked away from the fulcrum is
one using ‘indirect pressure’. Here is an old 19th century
nutcracker using this method. |
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 There are some
nutcrackers that use both direct and indirect pressure, for
different sizes of nuts. Here is an old iron nutcracker that uses
both methods. |
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 The word ‘figural’ is
used when the nutcracker is in the shape of an animal or human. Most
of the carved animal and human heads open at the mouth, but also
have a place between the levers that is actually where the nut is
cracked. Cracking the nut between the levers is direct pressure. |
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 Cracking the nuts in the
mouth would be indirect pressure, but might damage the beautiful
carving. You can see that someone did indeed damage the nutcracker’s
teeth by cracking the nut in the mouth. |
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| Another way to crack a nut is by using ‘screw’ action. Here the nut is opened by applying more and more pressure until finally the shell cracks. This idea has been used for over 300 years. Many are made of wood, and many of metal. Some are plain and some are very elaborately designed. | |
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 And then there are
nutcrackers that just squeeze the nut until it pops open!!! |
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 Now after you have
learned all the different ways to crack a nut, which is the method
used in the Wooden Toy Soldier that you see at Christmas time????? |
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