SHREDDER WITH THICKNESS DETECTOR
First Claim
1. A shredder comprising:
- a housing having a throat open to an exterior of the housing for permitting a user to feed at least one article to be shredded;
a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling the at least one article fed into the throat to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements in a shredding direction so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein;
a thickness detector configured to detect a thickness of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat;
a presence detector configured to detect a presence of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat; and
a controller configured to (a) prevent the motor from driving the cutter elements in the shredding direction responsive to the thickness detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is at least equal to the predetermined maximum thickness, and (b) operate the motor to drive the cutter elements in the shredding direction responsive to the presence detector detecting the presence of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat and the thickness detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is less than the predetermined maximum thickness.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A shredder is disclosed. The shredder includes a housing having a throat for receiving at least one article to be shredded, and a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements. The shredder mechanism enables the at least one article to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements. The motor is operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein. The shredder also includes a detector that is configured to detect a thickness of the at least one article being received by the throat, and a controller that is operable to perform a predetermined operation responsive to the detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is at least equal to a predetermined maximum thickness.
46 Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A shredder comprising:
-
a housing having a throat open to an exterior of the housing for permitting a user to feed at least one article to be shredded; a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling the at least one article fed into the throat to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements in a shredding direction so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein; a thickness detector configured to detect a thickness of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat; a presence detector configured to detect a presence of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat; and a controller configured to (a) prevent the motor from driving the cutter elements in the shredding direction responsive to the thickness detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is at least equal to the predetermined maximum thickness, and (b) operate the motor to drive the cutter elements in the shredding direction responsive to the presence detector detecting the presence of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat and the thickness detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is less than the predetermined maximum thickness. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A shredder comprising:
-
a housing having a throat open to an exterior of the housing for permitting a user to feed at least one article to be shredded; a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling the at least one article fed into the throat to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements in a shredding direction so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein; a thickness detector configured to detect a thickness of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat, said thickness detector comprising a contact member movable by the at least one article being inserted into the throat; a controller configured to prevent the motor from driving the cutter elements in the shredding direction responsive to the detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is at least equal to the predetermined maximum thickness; wherein said thickness detector comprises a sensor and a detectable part movable for detection by the sensor, and wherein said thickness detector is configured such that movement of said contact member amplifies movement of the detectable part at the sensor. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A shredder comprising:
-
a housing having a throat open to an exterior of the housing for permitting a user to feed at least one article to be shredded; a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling the at least one article fed into the throat to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements in a shredding direction so that the cutter elements shred the articles fed therein; a thickness detector configured to detect a thickness of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat, said thickness detector comprising a contact member movable by the at least one article being inserted into the throat; a controller configured to prevent the motor from driving the cutter elements in the shredding direction responsive to the detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is at least equal to the predetermined maximum thickness; wherein said thickness detector is a variable thickness detector for outputting a variable amount of movement of said contact member. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
Specification