Bean cutter

A cutter including an inclined chute for receiving side-by-side transversely extending elongated members thereon for gravity lateral feeding of said elongated members downwardly along said chute, a rotary shaft disposed outward of and below the lower end of said chute, a plurality of axially spaced wheels mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith, said wheels including axially registered radially outwardly projecting and circumferentially spaced arms whose outer ends are hooked in the direction of intended rotation of said shaft, stationary knife means disposed between adjacent wheels on the sides thereof remote from said chute, the axially registered arms of said wheels being operable to engage, lift and convey elongated members from the lower end of said chute past said knife means for cutting said elongated members into a plurality of short elongated member sections, a divider attachment stationarily mountable between one pair of opposing axially spaced wheels on said shaft, said shaft and wheels being rotatable relative to said divider attachment, said divider attachment including an edge portion thereof comprising a cutting edge for cutting the tip ends of short elongated members therefrom, said chute including a lower end portion thereof hingedly supported therefrom for angular displacement relative to the upper portion of said chute about a horizontal axis extending transversely of said chute, said lower end portion being swingable between a lower position substantially paralleling the adjacent upper portion of the chute and a raised position reducing the effect of gravity feed of said elongated members downwardly along said lower end portion, said registered arms being engageable with said lower end portion to swing the latter from said lower position toward said upper position as each set of registered arms of said wheels swing upwardly past the lower end of said chute.