1. An apparatus for separating the sheath from the encased hose comprising, a support means, said support means having a pair of vertically extending side members, a die member having a longitudinally extending horizontal pass line that extends through said support means which is parallel to the plane of said side members mounted on one end of said support means, a pair of guide plates secured to the intermediate portion of each of said vertically extending side members, said pairs of guide plates extending inwardly toward each other, a cutter block mounted in each pair of guide plates for movement toward and away from each other, cam means mounted on said support means and extending into contact with said cutter blocks, biasing means interconnecting said cutter blocks and said guide plates for biasing said cutter blocks into engagement with said cam means, a circular cutter means mounted on each of said cutter blocks having a circular cutting edge such that a plane passing through said cutting edges of said circular cutter means contains said longitudinal pass line, splitting means mounted on the other end of said support means in alignment with said circular cutters to separate the sheath from the hose as it passes therethrough, conveying means mounted in said support means operative to feed encased hose to said circular cutters along said pass line, and said conveying means being operative to direct said encased hose from said circular cutting means to said splitting means.

3. A sheath-cutting apparatus for cutting and removing a sheath from a hose comprising, support means, guide means mounted on the forward portion of said support means, guide means mounted on the rearward portion of said support means cooperative with said guide means on the forward portion of said support means for centering the hose to define a longitudinal pass line, a pair of spaced cutter means mounted on said support means on opposite sides of said pass line, feed means mounted on said support means for feeding a sheathed hose from said guide means on the forward portion of said support means to said guide means on the rearward portion of said support means, each of said cutter means including circular rotatable cutters, splitting means mounted adjacent to said guide means on said rearward portion of said support means for separating the precut sheath from said hose, said feed means comprises a pair of spaced carrier members pivotally mounted on said support means, each of said carrier members having a pair of sprockets rotatably journaled thereon, means interconnecting said carrier members to provide simultaneous pivoting action thereof, chain means encompassing oppositely disposed sprockets on each of said carrier members to provide an upper conveying run and a lower conveying run that is in vertical alignment with said longitudinal pass line, and splitting means mounted adjacent to said guide means on said rearward portion of said support means for separating the precut sheath from said hose.