Tire removal apparatus
AssigneeWaste Recovery, Inc.
InventorsMichael W. Rouse, Robert L. Thelen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus for separating rubber tires from discarded metal wheels and for breaking large pieces of wood and the like into smaller pieces has a linear motor which drives a ram to crush a wheel rim, permitting it to fall free from a tire originally mounted thereon. A punch punctures inflated tires. A transverse arm structure includes sockets which hold vertical pins used to support long pieces of wood and the like while the ram is used to break them into smaller lengths. A blade which may be attached to the ram is usable to cut very large tires along radial planes to reduce such tires into smaller sections preparatory to further processing.
Claims14
A device for deforming metal wheels in order to facilitate separation of tires therefrom, comprising:
- (a) an elongate horizontal main structural beam member having a length and a pair of opposite sides;
- (b) a linear motor located atop said main structural beam member and having a portion thereof attached thereto;
- (c) a ram head drivably connected to said linear motor and movable longitudinally of said main structural beam member by said linear motor said ram head being configured to engage and deform metal wheels;
- (d) an upwardly extending abutment structure attached to said main structural beam member and spaced apart from said linear motor longitudinally of said main structural beam member, said abutment structure and ram head lying in a straight line parallel with said longitudinally extending main structural beam member, said abutment structure including a pair of fixed upright members each having a respective upright, generally planar face, said planar faces defining an interior angle said pair of upright members being located with said interior angle facing toward said ram, so as to hold a wheel and tire generally stationary during movement of said ram toward said abutment structure;
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- (e) means for supporting a wheel in a horizontal attitude adjacent said abutment structure so that the axis of the wheel extends vertically, between said ram head and said abutment structure.
A device for deforming metal wheels in order to facilitate separation of tires therefrom, comprising:
- (a) an elongate horizontal main structural beam member having a length and a pair of opposite sides;
- (b) a single linear motor located atop said main structural member and having a portion thereof attached thereto;
- (c) an upwardly extending abutment structure attached to said main structural beam member and having a fixed surface for engaging a wheel and tire assembly and spaced apart from said single linear motor longitudinally of said main structural member;
- (d) means associated with said main structural beam member for supporting a wheel in a horizontal attitude adjacent said abutment structure so that the axis of the wheel extends vertically;
- and
- (e) ram head means drivably connected to said single linear motor and movable longitudinally of said main structural member, toward said abutment structure, by said single linear motor, for deforming a metal wheel by acting substantially diameterically thereon, said abutment structure and ram head lying in a straight line parallel with said longitudinally extending main structural beam member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.