Hammer mill apparatus

A hammer mill apparatus to shred and chip pallets fed therethrough comprising a shredding rotor assembly rotatably disposed within a rotor housing including an entry portion and an exit portion formed therein, said shredding rotor assembly includes at least two rotor disc assemblies each having a plurality of hammer elements pivotally coupled to the periphery thereof being operatively connected to a rotor drive assembly including a drive motor and a rotatable rotor drive shaft, each said rotor disc assembly comprises a plurality of hammer elements pivotally mounted to the periphery of a pair of substantially parallel, spaced apart circular rotor discs by a corresponding rotor disc aperture and hammer element aperture, each said circular rotor disc is mounted on said rotatable rotor drive shaft by a corresponding mounting collar having a centrally disposed aperture formed therethrough to receive said rotatable rotor drive shaft, each said mounting collar comprises a mounting element affixed within a corresponding centrally disposed rotor disc aperture and a spacer element having a width slightly greater than the width of said hammer elements, said rotatable rotor drive shaft rotating said rotor disc assemblies exerting centrifugal force on each said plurality of hammer elements such that a line coincident with the longitudinal axis of each said hammer element extends through said rotatable rotor drive shaft whereby the outer end of each said hammer element engages pallets in said entry portion to shred and chip such pallets entering said rotor housing and discharges the reduced material from said exit portion.