Scrap shearing machine

A scrap shearing machine for shearing a metal scrap into a plurality of short scrap pieces, comprising an open feed channel (30) having two opposite sidewalls to form a rectangular parallelepiped space, a guillotine-type straight-blade shear-stand (20) at one end of the feed channel and having scrap shears and a mouth (22) narrower than the normal width of the feed channel (30) between said sidewalls, a side hydraulic ram (63) for moving at least one of said sidewalls towards the other of said sidewalls whereby the metal scrap (35) placed in the feed channel (30) can be squashed sideways before feeding the metal scrap into the mouth of the shear-stand, and a feeder (40) for feeding the metal scrap (35) into the mouth (22) of the shear-stand (20) after said metal scrap has been squashed sideways by the side hydraulic ram in the feed channel (30),

• wherein said side hydraulic ram (63) is situated adjacent to the mouth (22) of the shear-stand and is adapted to squash the metal scrap in front of the mouth only at a certain limited longitudinal section which is shorter than the overall length of the scrap in the longitudinal direction of the feed channel (30) so as to squash the metal scrap to a final width no greater than the inside width of the mouth (22);
• wherein a downward hydraulic ram (53) is associated with said side hydraulic ram (63) adjacent to the mouth (22) of the shear-stand and is adapted to downwardly squash the metal scrap (35) in front of the mouth only at a certain limited longitudinal section which is shorter than the overall length of the scrap in the longitudinal direction of the feed channel (30) prior to squashing operation of the side hydraulic ram (63) so as to squash the metal scrap (35) to a final height no greater than the inside height of the mouth (22) of the shear-stand;
• and
• wherein a control unit (70) is associated with respective drive systems of the shear-stand (20), the feeder (40), the side hydraulic ram (63), and the downward hydraulic ram (53) for supervising and controlling them in accordance with a predetermined operation sequence.