Abstract: A rubber tire component reclamation technique which provides tire rubber fragments classified according to size. Preferred apparatus for rubber tire component reclamation includes a feed hopper for receiving pieces of discarded tires, a granulating chamber coupled to the feed hopper for cutting the received pieces into smaller fragments, and an exit chute providing an output from the granulating chamber through which tire fragments fall. An air flow is induced upwardly through the exit chute to urge the less dense components such as yarn and fabric upwardly against gravity and out of the upper portion of the chute. The air flow is of sufficient force to prevent commingling and compaction of the less dense components with the remaining components of the tire fragments. A magnetized drum is located near the lower end of the exit chute for segregating the ferromagnetic components of the tire fragments.

Abstract: A device for removing the beads from scrap tires is disclosed and includes a pair of chain-and-sprocket driven spindles which are relatively expandable to engage the inner periphery of a tire and drive the tire in a somewhat rotary manner past a pair of cutting knives which sever the beads from the rest of the tire. After severing, the spindles are retracted toward one another to allow removal of the remaining tire casing and the two severed beads, and the placement of another scrap tire over the spindles. In a preferred form, one spindle pivots about the axis of its own driving sprocket so that the tension in the chain entrained about that driving sprocket and the driven sprocket coaxial with that spindle remains constant. A unique tire casing support near the cutting knives is also disclosed.