Machine for disassembling wood pallets

A machine for completely or partially disassembling wood pallets of the type made of paralleled, spaced apart stringers onto which deck board are retained by nails, the deck boards extending perpendicularly of the strings and being nailed to both sides of the stringers, the assembled pallets providing a bottom support surface of deck boards and a top material receiving surface of deck boards, the machine comprising:

• an elongated support arm onto which a wood pallet is positioned with a stringer in engagement with the support arm and deck boards extending to either side,
• an elongated carrier arm supported parallel to and spaced from the support arm;
• said support arm having a first elongated portion having an outer board engaging edge and a second elongated portion having an outer board engaging edge;
• said engaging edges being opposite and parallel to each other, and having first and second spaced apart, paralleled yoke members each pivoted at one end to said first elongated portion and at the other end to said second elongated portion in a parallelogram configuration whereby as said second portion is laterally displaced relative to said first portion the width between said board engaging edges change;
• means to selectively vary the lateral displacement of said support arm second portion relative to said support arm first portion;
• a hub slideably supported by said carrier arm;
• opposed cutter wheels rotatably supported to said hub, the periphery of the cutter wheels being adjacent the opposed board engaging edges of said support arm;
• means on said support arm to restrain a pallet stringer thereon from laterally shifting;
• and
• means to reciprocably extend said hub and cutter wheels to cut the nails between deck boards and a stringer positioned on said support arm.