Patent ID: 7802854

Claim:
An apparatus for removing shingles from the surface of a roof comprising: a moveable shingle removal head having a head frame; a prying member comprising a plurality of prying elements individually and reciprocally biased across a prying width of said head frame for lifting and removing shingles from the surface of the roof and allowing biased reciprocal movement of said prying elements along a longitudinal axis for retraction of one or more of said prying elements upon contacting an elevated obstruction on the roof; a cutting member carried by said head frame for cutting the removed shingles into smaller shingle pieces; and a shingle disposal section carried by said head frame for receiving the shingle pieces; a shingle outlet formed in said shingle disposal section for the removal of the shingle pieces from said shingle disposal section; whereby, when said apparatus is positioned and moved over shingles on a roof, said prying member engages beneath free edges of the shingles to lift and remove the shingles for being cut into shingle pieces for removal from said shingle disposal section through said shingle outlet wherein contact of one or more of said prying elements with the elevated obstruction causes said one or more prying elements to retract along said axis into a position elevated from the obstruction allowing said one or more of prying elements to continue operative movement over the surface of the roof, while allowing a remainder of said prying elements to continue operative movement over the surface of the roof without retracting.