Box cutting machine

A cutting machine for opening rectangularly shaped corrugated boxes having side walls that intersect along a line at each of the corners of the box, comprising a fixed work table means for holding a box to be cut open, a pair of power driven knife means cooperating with said table means to produce a clean cut on the same level through the pair of intersecting side walls of a box on said table, separate means to drive each one of said pair of separate knife means, and means to energize each of said separate knife drive means in stepped sequence along a stroke that includes, but is longer than the length of each of said side walls respectively, each of said strokes beginning at one end of one of said intersecting walls and extending past a common point located along one of said lines at one of the corners of said intersecting side walls of said box, means to position a corner of the box on the table at said common point, said drive means moving first one and then the other of said knife means along said stroke and past said common point whereby to cut toward the intersection through first one and then the other one of said intersecting walls.