BACKGROUND It is known to shred tyres using crushers, shredders, hammermills and the like. A problem associated with many such prior art devices is that it is difficult to separate metallic reinforcing material from the rubber material. Another disadvantage of these prior art devices is that the metallic reinforcing material tends to cause the machines to jam or malfunction.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION According to a first aspect the present invention comprises a shredding chamber fed by an inlet chute, a first shredding device within said shredding chamber comprising a plurality of spaced apart hammers fixed to a first body rotatable about a first axis, a second shredding device within said shredding chamber comprising a plurality of blades pivotally mounted to a second body rotatable about a second axis, a first outlet for removing a first shredded tyre material from said shredding chamber ; and a second outlet for removing a second shredded tyre material from said shredding chamber.

Preferably, said first axis and said second axis are the same axis and said first rotatable body and said second rotatable body are integral or joined together, and are both driven by a drive unit.

Preferably, said second rotatable body is partially surrounded by a semi-circular sheet member spaced away from the free ends of said blades.

Preferably, said second rotatable body comprises two spaced apart annular members to which said blades are mounted.

Preferably, a plurality of vanes are mounted centrally between said annular members.

Preferably, said hammers on said first shredding device shred segments of tyres into smaller pieces and said blades of said second shredding device separate said second shredded tyre material from said first tyre material.

Preferably, said first tyre material is substantially rubber.

Preferably, said second tyre material is substantially metallic.

Preferably, said first outlet is located at or near the lower portion of said shredding chamber.

Preferably, said second outlet is located at or near the upper portion of said shredding chamber.

Preferably, a control plate is adjustably disposed in said second outlet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be described with reference to drawings in which Fig 1 is a partial schematic cut away perspective view of a tyre recycling apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a blade set forming part of the shredding device of the embodiment shown in Figure 1.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT INVENTION Figure 1 depicts a tyre recycling apparatus 1 for shredding automobile rubber tyres for the purposes of recycling. The tyre recycling apparatus 1 comprises a shredding chamber 2, which is fed via an inlet chute 3. Apparatus 1 also comprises a shredding device 4 having a first shredding segment 5 and a second shredding segment 6 both rotatably mounted about an axis X. The shredding device 4 is rotatably driven by a driving motor, which is not shown for clarity reasons. Also for purposes of clarity, various supports, bearings, and the like have been omitted from Fig 1. The first

shredding segment 5 comprises a plurality of hammers 7, which are both axially and radially spaced apart from each other. As they rotate, hammers 7 pass between complementary hammers 7a fixed relative to shredding chamber 2. The second shredding segment 6 comprises an annular body 16 comprising two spaced apart annular members on which a plurality of pivot axes 12 are disposed at circumferentially spaced apart locations about its periphery. At each pivot axis 12 a blade set 8 is mounted to the pivot axis 12 and are pivotal relative thereto. Each blade set 8 comprises a plurality of elongate blades 9. Each blade 9 is in close proximity to, and able to pivot independently of, adjacent blades 9. A plurality of spaced apart vanes 15 are disposed centrally about the axis of the annular body 16. As the annular body 16 rotates at high speed, the vanes 15 propel air and shredded material radially outward, whilst drawing air and shredded material from first shredding segment 5. A semi- circular sheet member 13, preferably of grating or perforated material, shrouds the lower portion of the annular body and is spaced a short distance, preferably about 30 to 50mm, away from the tips of freely rotating blades 9.

In use, chopped rubber tyre material is introduced into shredding chamber 2 via inlet chute 3. The first shredding segment 5 of the shredding device 4 acts as a conventional hammermill to shred the introduced tyre material and expose the tyre's metallic reinforcing material. From there, the shredded material is drawn axially into annular body 16 and propelled radially outward. The shredded material is repeatedly cleaved by blade sets 8. Blades 9 substantially separate the metallic reinforcing material from the rubber material. As the metallic material is separated, it is thrown upwardly towards upper outlet 11 whilst the shredded small particles of rubber preferentially fall by gravity through the grating of semi-circular sheet member 13 and escape via lower outlet 10. The air/metal mixture flowing through upper outlet 11 circumnavigates around control plate 14 and travels to a predetermined elevation for collection.

There is a commercial advantage of being able to separate the metallic reinforcing material from the shredded rubber material.

It should be understood that in other, not shown, embodiments variations may be made to, without departing from the spirit and scope of, the invention. For instance, the first

shredding segment 5 and second shredding segment 6 may be separate shredding devices, each driven by a respective drive unit. In such an arrangement the separate shredding devices may or may not have co-linear axes.

It should also be understood that the blades 9 of the above mentioned embodiment are replaceable and may have cutting profiles and edges of various types to suit different types of reinforced tyres.