compression ram 40 may be moved through the opening 38 and into other end of the compression chamber 22 the second side wall 30 includes an opening not shown that is the same shape and size as and is aligned with the opening 30 and with the central longitudinal axis of the side mounted ram 40 i e the path of movement of the side mounted ram 40 during the compression of scrap metal in the compression chamber 22 the opening in the side wall 30 is closed by a hydraulically actuated side gate 42 this gate 42 is mounted on the exterior of the side wall 30 and is movable so that the opening in the side wall 30 can be unblocked to permit the ejection of a compressed bundle of scrap metal from compression chamber 22 by the side mounted ram 40 when the shear ram 32 is moved to its first right most position farther to the right than as shown in fig2 scrap metal may be introduced into the compression chamber 22 from the hopper 18 frequently pieces of the scrap metal project out the chamber through the opening 36 a fixed shear blade assembly 44 is mounted on the top wall 20 along the edge of the opening 36 that is adjacent to the other end of the compression chamber 22 the shear blade assembly 44 may be of conventional design and construction and may be disposed at an angle with respect to the path of movement of the shear ram 32 a movable shear blade assembly 46 further described hereinafter in detail is mounted on and along the upper transverse leading edge of the.