SHREDDER THROAT SAFETY SYSTEM
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A shredder comprising:
- a housing;
a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling articles to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein;
the housing having a movable part comprising a pair of spaced apart opposing walls providing at least part of an opening enabling articles to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the shredder mechanism for shredding, the movable part being movable from a first position to a second position and being biased to the first position;
a detector configured to detect movement of the movable part to the second position;
the movable part being constructed to move from the first position to the second position upon a user attempting to force an article having a thickness greater than a predetermined thickness through the opening, the predetermined distance being defined by a distance between the spaced apart opposing walls; and
a controller operable to perform a predetermined operation responsive to the detector detecting that the movable part has moved to the second position.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a shredder that includes a housing having a movable part that forms at least a part of an opening for the insertion of articles to be fed into the shredder. A detector detects motion of the movable part, and in response, a controller performs a predetermined operation, including, for example, stopping cutting elements of the shredder mechanism.
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Citations
72 Claims
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1. A shredder comprising:
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a housing;
a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling articles to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein;
the housing having a movable part comprising a pair of spaced apart opposing walls providing at least part of an opening enabling articles to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the shredder mechanism for shredding, the movable part being movable from a first position to a second position and being biased to the first position;
a detector configured to detect movement of the movable part to the second position;
the movable part being constructed to move from the first position to the second position upon a user attempting to force an article having a thickness greater than a predetermined thickness through the opening, the predetermined distance being defined by a distance between the spaced apart opposing walls; and
a controller operable to perform a predetermined operation responsive to the detector detecting that the movable part has moved to the second position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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7-9. -9. (canceled)
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18. A shredder comprising:
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a housing;
a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling articles to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein;
the housing having an opening enabling articles to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the shredder mechanism for shredding;
a resistive switch, at least in part located adjacent the opening and configured to indicate the presence of a person or animal in contact with the switch; and
a controller operable to perform a predetermined operation responsive to the indicated presence of the person or animal. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A device for use with a shredder, the shredder including a housing having an opening enabling articles to be fed therethrough into cutter elements of a shredder mechanism for shredding, the device comprising:
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a switch, affixable to a portion of a shredder proximate the opening and configured to indicate the presence of a person or animal in contact with the switch;
a controller, in electrical communication with the switch, the controller having a connector constructed and arranged to engage a power supply and a receptacle constructed and arranged to accept a power cord of the shredder, the controller further being configured to provide power from the power supply to the shredder and to stop providing power to the shredder responsive to the indicated presence of the person or animal. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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37. A document shredder for shredding one or more data bearing documents selected from the group consisting of paper, optical discs, and floppy disks, comprising:
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a housing;
a document shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the document shredder mechanism enabling one or more data bearing documents selected from the group consisting of paper, optical discs, and floppy disks to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the one or more documents fed therein;
the housing having an opening enabling the one or more data bearing documents to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the document shredder mechanism for shredding;
a discriminating proximity sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, the proximity sensor being configured to indicate a presence of a person or animal, but not a presence of the one or more data bearing documents, in proximity to the opening based on the detection via the sensor element of an inherent electrical characteristic of the person or animal; and
a controller operable to disable the cutter elements responsive to the indicated presence of the person or animal. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A document shredder for shredding one or more data bearing documents, comprising:
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a housing;
a document shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the document shredder mechanism enabling one or more data bearing documents to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the one or more documents fed therein;
the housing having an opening enabling the one or more data bearing documents to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the document shredder mechanism for shredding;
a proximity sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, the proximity sensor being configured to detect via the sensor element an inherent electrical characteristic of an object in proximity to the opening; and
a controller operable to disable the cutter elements responsive to detecting the inherent electrical characteristic as reaching a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56)
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57. A shredder, comprising:
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a housing;
a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling one or more articles to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein;
the housing having an opening enabling the one or more articles to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the shredder mechanism for shredding;
a proximity sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, the proximity sensor being configured to detect via the sensor element an inherent electrical characteristic of an object in proximity to the opening; and
a controller operable to disable the cutter elements responsive to detecting the inherent electrical characteristic as reaching a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60)
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61. A method of operating a document shredder for shredding one or more data bearing documents selected from the group consisting of paper, optical discs, and floppy disks, the shredder comprising:
- (i) a housing;
(ii) a document shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the document shredder mechanism enabling one or more data bearing documents selected from the group consisting of paper, optical discs, and floppy disks to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the one or more documents fed therein;
(iii) the housing having an opening enabling the one or more data bearing documents to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the document shredder mechanism for shredding;
(iv) a proximity sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, the proximity sensor being configured to detect via the sensor element an inherent electrical characteristic of an object in proximity to the opening; and
(v) a controller operable to control the cutter elements;
the method comprising;
feeding one or more data bearing documents selected from the group consisting of paper, optical discs, and floppy disks into the cutter elements via the opening;
operating the motor to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the one or more documents fed therein;
detecting with the proximity sensor an object in proximity to the opening having an inherent electrical characteristic reaching a predetermined threshold; and
the controller disabling the cutter elements responsive to detecting the object having the inherent electrical characteristic reaching the predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
- (i) a housing;
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67. A method of operating a shredder comprising:
- (i) a housing;
(ii) a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling one or more articles to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the one or more articles fed therein;
(iii) the housing having an opening enabling the one or more articles to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the document shredder mechanism for shredding;
(iv) a proximity sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, the proximity sensor being configured to detect via the sensor element an inherent electrical characteristic of an object in proximity to the opening; and
(v) a controller operable to control the cutter elements;
the method comprising;
feeding one or more articles into the cutter elements via the opening;
operating the motor to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the one or more articles fed therein;
detecting with the proximity sensor an object in proximity to the opening having an inherent electrical characteristic reaching a predetermined threshold; and
the controller disabling the cutter elements responsive to detecting the object having the inherent electrical characteristic reaching the predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72)
- (i) a housing;
Specification