This small (size of an HP sauce bottle), probably AC driven, appliance should allow fast, no-fuss production of juice from citrus fruits. The Citrus Sucker is essentially a pump that evacuates the fluid from a fruit and leads it to a receptacle.
The front end has a 3”, thin, steel tube that is plunged into the fruit. The end of the tube is cut at an angle and is sharp except for a quarter of the edge closest to the appliance. Thus, a circular flap in the peel is cut, folded and pressed into the fruit like the lid on an aluminum can. A rubber rim at the base of the tube seals the hole. At the rear of the Citrus Sucker is a flexible plastic tube to lead the juice into a glass or bowl.
To use, plunge the front tube into say an orange, lift and support the orange with one hand, sink the rear tube into a glass and turn on the sucker. Within four seconds the orange is transformed into a shriveled peel and a refreshing glass of juice. I would think this would be baked but can find nothing on the net.-- FarmerJohn, Jul 14 2002 An alternative. http://www.halfbake...m/idea/BlenderStraw [angel, Jul 15 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004] Juicy Salif http://www.philippe...1990juicy_salif.jpgBy s+arck [django, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] The part that goes in the orange http://members.cox....robinism/juicer.jpgThis is the juicer gadget that [Freefall] was referring to [robinism, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Sounds like the ad for Tropicana.-- DrCurry, Jul 14 2002 Sounds like this would be fun to use. One freshly squeezed croissant. ew.-- polartomato, Jul 14 2002 Sounds dangerous. In fact, the only way I can think of to make this more dangerous is to have an explosion setting somewhere.-- phoenix, Jul 14 2002 Wouldn't you have to have something to macerate the inside of the fruit, to break the individual juice cells? I think you'd need more than one atmosphere of suction to do it with the suction alone.-- beauxeault, Jul 15 2002 You could feed ultrasonics back down the probe to achieve the cellular disruption, but it would take quite a lot of power, make the extractor unit more bulky, and heat up the juice.
All you need to try this is a steel pipe, some flexible hose, a Buchner flask, and a vacuum pump. That would show whether vacuum on its own is enough.
phoenix: Dangerous ? This is like a baby's bottle compared to some of his other ideas (bitter bitter bitter)-- 8th of 7, Jul 15 2002 Danger is what makes some of the ideas here HalfBaked. I think most people expect their fruit juicers to be relatively tame.
One advantage to this idea would be to dessicate a corpse prior to cremation - an idea stolen from another post.-- phoenix, Jul 15 2002 Perhaps if you stuck the citrus sucker in the fruit and, using it as a handle, repeatedly banged the orange into a wall until the internal cells were well and truly ruptured?-- pottedstu, Jul 15 2002 Well if it doesn't do the trick, I can always market it as a do-it-yourself liposucker.-- FarmerJohn, Jul 15 2002 FarmerJohn: Now you've got me worrying about what happens to all the fat that's extracted in Liposuction procedures ......-- 8th of 7, Jul 16 2002 Soap. Luxury soap. (actually I don't know but that should get people wondering)
It sounds like the Citrus Sucker would extract pulp rather than juice. This is an advantage, though, as it allows you to bolt on a press or a blender attachment depending on whether you want bits in your juice.-- st3f, Jul 16 2002 I actually remember seeing one of these many years ago at an Agricultural Show (don't ask). It was a bit like one of those hand pump-action cork remover thingies than always seemed pretty dangerous to me. Instead of sticking the thing through a cork and pumping pressure in, you shoved it into an orange and used the pump action to suck the juice out into a glass. It did work! I hung around for ages watching this as I was hoping to get a free glass of juice (I was very young and had no money left at the time). I never saw it on the market but I thought it was a good idea then and I guess it still is. But not original, sorry.-- TwoSheds, Jul 16 2002 Urk This idea in general and the second anno from phoenix in particular reminds me of the grisly scene from Tank Girl where the baddie plunges a similar gadget into the chest of one of his henchmen. The gadget sucks the water out of the guy leaving a shriveled corpse.-- madradish, Jul 18 2002 baked. Tupperware sells these things. First, you roll the citrus to break up the cells and release the juice, then you cut a hole in the skin (the sucker had a serrated edge), tap the skin plug from the sucker, and stick it back in the fruit. From there, you squeeze the juice into the receptacle of your choice, or simply suck it straight from the fruit. ( I loved these things as a kid.)-- Freefall, Aug 06 2002 I recommend straws for this purpose.-- watermelancholy, Aug 06 2002 pitts-- goomba, Jun 28 2004 I think I'll stick to our good friend Juicy Salif (link).-- django, Jun 28 2004 random, halfbakery