Importance

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Abstract

A chip destructuring and fissuring machine for destructuring wood chips or the like. The chip destructuring machine includes a support frame and two swing assemblies that provide parallel side-by-side squeeze rollers are swing-mounted on the frame to swing the rollers toward about a swing axis and away from one another between active and inactive positions. A drive motor having a drive shaft with a rotational axis aligned with the swing axis is mounted to the support frame, and drive assemblies couple the drive shaft to the rollers for rotating the rollers in opposite directions at the same rotational speed. Co-acting stops are mounted on the swing assemblies and are positioned to define a spacing between the rollers when they are in the active position for squeezing and destructuring of the chips. A biasing mechanism yieldingly urges the rollers toward one another into the active position. The rollers of one embodiment include a destructuring surface defined by a plurality of criss-crossing V-shaped grooves none of which are parallel to the respective roller's axis of rotation. The criss-crossing V-shaped grooves form a plurality of diamond-shaped protuberances. The diamond-shaped protuberances on one roller being opposite a juncture area between the protuberance on the opposing roller to avoid interference between the destructuring surfaces of the opposing rollers.

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First Claim