Patent ID: 8621968

Claim:
A shearing apparatus for cutting tires comprising: a frame; a shearing assembly configured to shear a portion of a tire along a shear plane, the shearing assembly including a lower shear blade structure and an upper shear blade structure mounted on the frame in a shearing relationship with the lower shear blade structure; a thrust adjustment assembly including a thrust plate support mounted in fixed relation to the frame and a thrust plate mounted adjustably on the thrust plate support, wherein the thrust adjustment assembly is configured to press against the upper shear blade structure as the upper shear blade structure moves toward the shear position in an adjustable manner to adjust a proximity of the upper shear blade structure to the lower shear blade structure in the shear position; and a tire indexing structure configured to advance a portion of the tire a distance through the shear plane for shearing the portion of the tire at the shear plane away from a remainder of the tire, the tire indexing structure including: a tire clamping assembly configured to clamp onto a location on the tire and being movable between an initial position and a final position to move the portion of the tire through the shear plane; a carriage assembly configured to move the tire clamping assembly between the initial position and the final position; and a guide defining a path along which the carriage assembly and tire clamping assembly is movable between the initial and final positions.