Shearing method and machine for segmenting scrap tires

Abstract

An apparatus for segmenting scrap tires having a compression conveyor and three rotary shears that make perpendicular cuts into the tire. The compression conveyor centers the tire and provides forces onto the treaded periphery to buckle the tire. The compression feeds the tire to a first rotary shear having overlapping counterrotating circular shears that make at least one cut about the circumferential periphery of the tire to produce annular tire segments. The annular tire segments fall by gravity into a conveyor having a pair of auger flights which position the segments for pickup by a conveyor chain. The conveyor chain includes a number of hooks which grasp the inner circumference of the annular tire segments, whereupon they are centered for entry into a second and third rotary shear. The second and third rotary shears are parallel to each other and are disposed to shear the tire segments perpendicularly to an axis extending through the center of the segment, reducing the tire segment to four arcuate segments. Preferably the first rotary shear includes a pair of coaxial circular shears that are spaced apart by a third shear supported on a shaft parallel a shaft supporting the outer shears. The second and third rotary shears each have a pair of shears supported on parallel shafts. In this manner a scrap tire will be reduced to twelve arcuate segments. Adjacent shears are spaced apart from each other by a distance not exceeding 0.003 inches.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.