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US 4,757,949 AGranted
Apparatus for shredding rubber tires
OwnerNorman P. Hortoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tire shredder. A housing has a vertical passage therein leading to a series of transversely disposed cutter wheels on adjacent parallel shafts. The shafts are rotated at different speeds, such as at 28 r.p.m. for one shaft and 34 r.p.m. for the other. The cutter wheels have flat side walls that partially overlap, so that rotation results in a scissors action reducing the rubber tires into manageable and disposable pieces. Preferably each cutter wheel has at least one tooth for engaging tires and pulling them into the shredder.
Claims19
A tire shredder, including in combination
- a housing having a vertical passage therethrough,
- a pair of horizontally mounted parallel drive shafts supported rotatably in said housing in said passage with a defined spacing between the shafts,
- a series of disk-shaped cutting wheels on each said shaft, each said wheel having a generally round periphery and flat side faces meeting the periphery at a sharp edge, said periphery having at least one tire-seizing tooth thereon,
- a series of disk-shaped spacers keyed to each said shaft between some of its said cutting wheels, each approximately the same width as a said cutting wheel but of a significantly smaller radius, said spacers being so disposed that the cutting wheels on one shaft are not opposite those on the other said shaft but are opposite and apart from the spacers of the other said shaft, said shafts being so spaced apart that the circles of revolution of the cutting wheels on one shaft overlap the circles of revolution of the cutting wheels on the other shaft to provide a scissors-like cutting relationship with adjacent side faces about 0.002" to 0.010" apart, and
- driving means for said shafts driving them for counterrotation relative to each other at speeds of about 20 to 34 r.p.m. for one shaft and about 26 to 42 r.p.m. for the other shaft, the speed of the other shaft being about 6 r.p.m. faster than the speed of the one shaft.
2 more elements
A tire shredder, including in combination
- a housing having a vertical passage therethrough, through which tires being shredded pass,
- a pair of horizontally mounted, parallel, hexagonal drive shafts of 4340 spring steel alloy, supported rotatably in said housing in said passage by bronze bushings, with a defined spacing between the shafts,
- a series of disk-shaped cutting wheels with hexagonal openings fitting snugly on each said shaft, each said wheel having flat side faces meeting a periphery at a sharp edge, each said periphery being generally round and having at least one tooth thereon defined by a filled tangent portion meeting an undercut, approximately radial, surface portion,
- a series of round spacers with flat side walls and hexagonal openings fitting snugly on each said shaft between some of its said cutting wheels, each approximately the same width as a said cutting wheel but of a significantly smaller radius, so disposed that the cutting wheels on one shaft are not opposite those on the other said shaft but are opposite but transversely spaced apart from the spacers on the other said shaft, said shafts being so spaced apart so that the peripheries of the cutting wheels on one shaft overlap the peripheries of those on the other shaft, to provide a scissors-like cutting relationship between adjacent side faces, which are kept about 0.002" to 0.010" apart,
- a hopper above said housing with a passage therethrough aligned with the passage through said housing, having an open end for the introduction of tires to be shredded,
- a pair of parallel counter-rotating feed shafts in said hopper, each parallel to one said drive shaft and lying in the same vertical plane therewith and having toothed feed wheels thereon for forcing whole tires down to said housing,
- driving means for said drive shafts driving them for counterrotation relative to each other at speeds of about 28 r.p.m. for one shaft and about 34 r.p.m. for the other shaft, and
- lubricant means located just above said drive shafts for spraying liquid on the cutting wheels and the tires being shredded.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.