Nutcracker

[2] Manufacturers produce modern functional nutcrackers usually somewhat resembling pliers, but with the pivot point at the end beyond the nut, rather than in the middle.

[5] A ratchet design, similar to a car jack, that gradually increases pressure on the shell to avoid damaging the kernel inside is used by the Crackerjack, patented in 1947 by Cuthbert Leslie Rimes of Morley, Leeds and exhibited at the Festival of Britain.

[6][7][8][9] Unshelled nuts are still popular in China, where a key device is inserted into the crack in walnuts, pecans, and macadamias and twisted to open the shell.

[3] These nutcrackers portray a person with a large mouth which the operator opens by lifting a lever in the back of the figurine.

[13] Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker, based on a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann, derives its name from this festive holiday decoration.

The most famous nutcracker carvings come from Sonneberg in Thuringia (also a center of dollmaking) and Seiffen, as part of the industry of wooden toymaking in the Ore Mountains.

Carvings by famous names like Junghanel, Klaus Mertens, Karl, Olaf Kolbe, Petersen, Christian Ulbricht and especially the Steinbach nutcrackers have become collectors' items.

[14] Many of the woodworkers in Germany were in Erzgebirge, in the Soviet zone after the end of the war, and they mass-produced poorly-made designs for the US market.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) issued four stamps in October 2008 with custom-made nutcrackers made by Richmond, Virginia artist Glenn Crider.

[16] An old belief among the Malay people in Southeast Asia states that an areca nutcracker (kacip pinang) can be placed under a baby's pillow to prevent any harm from paranormal creatures.