Shredder throat safety system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A document shredder for shredding one or more data bearing documents selected from the group consisting of paper, optical discs, and floppy disks, comprising:
- 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 a narrow, elongated 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 sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, said electroconductive sensor element being positioned between opposing longitudinal ends of the opening and extending in a longitudinal direction of the narrow, elongated opening to provide sensor coverage along essentially the entire length of the opening, the 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.
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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.
173 Citations
53 Claims
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1. 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 a narrow, elongated 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 sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, said electroconductive sensor element being positioned between opposing longitudinal ends of the opening and extending in a longitudinal direction of the narrow, elongated opening to provide sensor coverage along essentially the entire length of the opening, the 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 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. 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 a narrow, elongated 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 sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, said electroconductive sensor element being positioned between opposing longitudinal ends of the opening and extending in a longitudinal direction of the narrow, elongated opening to provide sensor coverage along essentially the entire length of the opening, the 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 (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. 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 a narrow, elongated opening enabling the one or more articles to be fed therethrough into the cutter elements of the shredder mechanism for shredding; a sensor comprising an electroconductive sensor element at least in part adjacent the opening, said electroconductive sensor element being positioned between opposing longitudinal ends of the opening and extending in a longitudinal direction of the narrow, elongated opening to provide sensor coverage along essentially the entire length of the opening, the 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 (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification