ABSTRACT

A simple manually operated Bush Mango (Irvingia) Cracking Machine was designed and developed. The main components of the machine include the cam device, compression springs, bevel gears, hammer, fixed block, hopper, picker and dropper plates. The working principle of the machine follows the principle of toggle mechanism. The machine's efficiency was tested at different moisture content of the Bush Mango nuts to determine at what level the machine can perform better. The moisture content was varied at 8.40%, 9.12% and 7.50% respectively. Cracking efficiency at 8.40% moisture content was 93.21%, percentage kernel breakage was 17% and machine's capacity was 0.7gls. At 9.12% moisture content, cracking efficiency was 89.95%, percentage kernel breakage was 24% while machine's capacity was O.7gls. at 7.50 a moisture content, cracking efficiency was 95.70%, percentage kernel breakage was 11% and machine capacity was O.7gls. It was observed that the lower the moisture content of the seed, the higher the cracking efficiency of the machine and lower the percentage kernel breakage.