Intelligent nutcrackers

The problem with nutcrackers is that, in general, they are rubbish. They are typically just glorified pliers which, having cracked the shell, continue to close on the nut, thereby pulverising it.

Of course you can get more sophisticated devices that work more like a vise, but these are tedious to use. One very clever baker here suggested using Molegrips, which is an excellent idea, except that they would require adjustment on a nut-by-nut basis.

So.

Proposed herewith is a more intelligent nutcracker. Bear with me, because this will be tricky without an illustration.

The Intelligent Nutcracker resembles, at first sight, the aforementioned glorified pair of pliers, with wide- opening jaws to accommodate the nut.

However, one of the two jaws has a ridged plate lining its inner face; the ridged plate is held away from the jaw by a small, strong spring.

So, when the pliers are closed around the nut, the first thing that happens is that this ridged plate is pushed back against the jaw.

Now, the ridged plate has an arm extending back towards the pivot-point of the jaws, and a pawl that can engage a toothed rack. As the jaws are closed, and the sprung plate is squeezed against the jaw, the pawl engages the rack. Gadulka! The jaws can now only close as far as it takes to bring the next tooth up against the pawl, and the nut is cracked but not crushed.