The present invention deals with a continuous- supply shearing press.

Continuous-supply shearing presses are machines used for treating ferrous and non-ferrous scraps, wherein the entering material first of all is subjected to a volume reduction and afterward is cut .

In each operating cycle, scraps, loaded onto a hopper, descend due to gravity along an inclined plane, arriving at their treatment area. Here scraps are subjected to a first compacting horizontally, a second one vertically, before being cut by a guillotine.

The treated material exits the machine and is discharged by opening an hatch, whose shape determines the mean length of the scrap exiting after its treatment.

The state of the art of continuous-supply shearing presses is given by patent n. US4253388, wherein a process is disclosed for compressing and cutting metallic scraps which are continuously loaded, generating a thrust of the scraps by gravity along their advancement direction, stopping the material on an abutment plane, exerting a first transverse compression, and then cutting with a guillotine a piece of abutted material, with a cut which is normal to the advancement direction, accompanying the cut with a second, transverse compression, normal to the first compression.

Necessary condition for a correct automatic operation of the machine is keeping its discharging area clean and free from residuals, immediately downstream of the cutting area.

Therefore, newly processed scraps must be moved, for example with a pushing machine, on an horizontal plane.

The pushing machine moves synchronously with the other members, operating in a working cycle. According to a different machine configuration, said pushing machine sometimes intervenes, automatically or manually. According to a further machine configuration, the movement of processed scraps occurs along an inclined plane, or chute, possibly coupled with a vibrating table.

The hatch is a sturdy structure, capable of supporting impacts from moving scraps along the chute. Its shape determines the linear measure of the amount of exiting processed scrap, affecting accuracy and treatment uniformity of the ferrous material, both within a cycle, and when performing different cycles.

The cutting area, placed upstream of the discharging area, is easily accessible and with such sizes as to allow a periodic maintenance by operators with equipment.

Since this is a machine with automatic cycle and continuous supply, discharging treated scraps must occur in a sliding way and without jamming, avoiding the interference of the hatch and of exiting scraps.

In case of block of the treatment cycle of scraps, caused by a certain amount of scarp remained entangled, or even by the lack of execution of the cutting of treated material, access must be made from outside to free the discharging area. The hatch, therefore, must be able to be adequately opened even during its normal operation.

The state of the art, referred to discharging ferrous material in continuous-supply shearing presses, is given by document WO8706524, wherein a scrap treatment system is disclosed, comprising: squashing and crushing means; cutting means; scrap supplying means. Said means include scrap-guiding surfaces during their loading towards the squashing and cutting areas, a slanted chute, an inclined hopper and means for prolonging said chute.

In view of this prior art, object of the present invention is providing a continuous-supply shearing press wherein treated scarp-discharging conditions are improved, together with maintenance conditions .

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained with a continuous-supply shearing press as claimed in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims .

It is intended that all enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention, as appears from the enclosed claims.

The features of the present invention will more clearly appear from the following description of a practical embodiment thereof, shown as a non- limiting example in the enclosed drawings, in which :

figure 1 shows a cut-out of a side view of a discharging area for ferrous material, treated in a continuous-supply shearing press of the invention; figure 2 shows a cut-out of a side view of an actuating mechanism of a hatch according to a variation of the continuous-supply shearing press of figure 1.

A continuous-supply shearing press comprises a hatch 1, connected to a guillotine 2 through an arm 3 and a rod 4.

An end of the hatch 1 is occupied by a pair of hinges 5, 6, respectively connected to an end of the arm 3 and the rod 4.

Another end of the arm 3 is occupied by a pair of hinges 7, 8, respectively connected to the guillotine 2 and to another end of the rod 4.

The hatch 1 and the guillotine 2 are metallic structures, made according to the prior art given by patent n. US4253388.

The guillotine 2 performs a linear alternate movement along linear guides 9 obtained in a carrier structure 10 of the machine.

The carrier structure 10 supports a pin 11 which behaves as a fulcrum of the arm 3 during the alternate movement of the guillotine 2.

The arm 3 is equipped with a longitudinal groove comprising at least one surface 31 tangent to a cylindrical surface belonging to the pin 11.

The hinges 5, 6, 7, 8 are cylindrical, low- friction supports which enable the movement of the hatch 1 during the alternate excursion of the guillotine 2.

The hatch 1 moves along an approximately elliptical trajectory, which allows reducing the overall sizes of the machine, in particular next to the discharging area, reducing the volume globally occupied by the machine.

The trajectory of the hatch 1 is changed through a device 12, used as replacement of the rod 4, to connect the hinges 6, 8, (figure 2) .

The device 12 allows changing the distance of the hinges 6, 8 by means of a stem 121, sliding along a hydraulic cylinder 122 connected to a control unit (not shown) .

The hatch 1, connected to the guillotine 2 through a mechanism given by the hinges 5, 6, 7, 8, allows sliding the hinged arm 3 with respect to the fixed pin 11, during the alternate movement of the guillotine 2, reaching the object of guaranteeing a certain length of exiting scraps, and ensure the repeatability of such measure, both for the whole scraps treated in the same cycle, and when performing different cycles.

Said object is further reached due to the use of the device 12, to intervene on the elliptical trajectory of the hatch 1, having a more or less squashed shape, and to modify the measure of the length of the load of treated material, in a compacting and cutting cycle, through the help of an hydraulic drive.

The hydraulic actuator 121, 122 allows moving the hatch 1 independently, both with an unmoving machine, and during the working cycle with a moving machine .

The hydraulic actuator 121, 122 also allows choosing and modifying the length of exiting scraps .

The object of reducing operating costs is also obtained, due to the use of a single actuating cylinder to move guillotine 2 and hatch 1.

A similar system, which complies with the above requirements, can be devised with the fulcrum 11 as traditional hinge (not shown) , this latter one being adapted to be moved in parallel with the movement axis of the guillotine 2. In this way, the trajectory of the hatch 1 becomes a circumference but, being able to move the rotation centre of the fulcrum 11, the resulting overall sizes are reduced, with consequent reduction of the discharging area.

The hatch 1, connected to the guillotine 2 through the mechanism comprising the hinges 5, 6, 7, 8, is useful to make a machine with rotation axis of the hatch 1 parallel to the movement direction of the guillotine 2, obtaining a machine architecture with lateral opening/closure, instead of from bottom to top, of the hatch 1.