Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/340

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��Popular Scioicc Monflily

���The Paddleless Canoe in Action. The Oper- ator Propels Himself Leisurely Along with the Aid of Either His Hands or His Feet, or Both Combined When Making Speed

��Below, the Neat and Compact Propelling Device Which Weighs About Forty Pounds. The Upright Lever Operates the Rudder. The Principle Is That of a Velocipede

��A Paddleless Canoe Propelled by Feet and Hands

WHEN George D. Sicklesteel, of Oregon, goes for a sail with his little canoe he forgets all about the rising cost of gasoline and engine trouble and propels himself up and down stream with a hand and foot-operated boat of his own construction.

The hand levers are connected with a crank which carries a gear, and this meshes with another gear which drives the propeller shaft.

Pedal cranks are connected with the same crank which is operated by hand levers, so that the boat can be driven by foot as well as by hand-power. In this way the operator can use either one hand or two hands, or both feet alone, or both hands and feet together. The apparatus weighs about forty pounds.

��A Machine That Cracks Oil-Bearing Nuts Without Crushing Them

THE bursting and cracking of cocoanuts, cohune nuts anc nuts of similar nature to enable tlir oil-bearing kernels to be extracted with the least possible waste has l<jng been a tetiious hand process. A machine has been invented by an ICnglisli firni, which is said to crack the nuts more c|uickly and with less waste than any appar- atus heretofore devised. The pressure is ajiplied to the nuts lengthwise, and each nut is

��placed in a position between the bursting jaws, hollowed out so as to safely hold the "nose" or rounded part, and is there cracked. As fast as one is cracked another is lifted in position, so that the operation is continuous. The operator simply turns the crank, and the nuts are cracked as fast as they are fed to the bursting jaws.

Below the machine is a ho]jper contain- ing the supply of nuts. A belt carrying lifting forks enters this hopper and lifts the nuts one by one to the bursting jaws. One revolution of the driving shaft, operated by the crank, crushes a nut, which falls in a receptacle. At the same time another nut is brouglit in iiosition, is cracked, and falls in the same receptacle. The machine does not ^ ^ /

injure the ker- ^^_'* WnA^ ^ nels or waste ^f"^ ■*-*<r*^ i» ^

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���The Cranks Operate the Bursting Jaws Which Crack the Nuts and Lift Un- cracked Ones Into Po sition. The Operation Is Continuous and the Nuts Can Be Cracked as Fast as Desired

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