Shredder with thickness detector
CAFCFirst 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 between opposing major surfaces of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat;
a maximum thickness indicator having a visual or audible output and configured to indicate a visual or audible signal to a user of the shredder via the visual or audible output;
a controller configured to actuate the maximum thickness indicator and indicate the visual or audible signal to the user via the visual or audible output responsive to the detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is at least equal to a 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.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A shredder comprising:
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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 between opposing major surfaces of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat; a maximum thickness indicator having a visual or audible output and configured to indicate a visual or audible signal to a user of the shredder via the visual or audible output; a controller configured to actuate the maximum thickness indicator and indicate the visual or audible signal to the user via the visual or audible output responsive to the detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is at least equal to a predetermined maximum thickness. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A shredder comprising:
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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 between opposing major surfaces of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat; a maximum thickness indicator having a visual or audible output and configured to indicate a visual or audible signal to a user of the shredder via the visual or audible output; a controller configured to actuate the maximum thickness indicator and indicate the visual or audible signal to the user via the visual or audible output responsive to the detector detecting that the thickness of the at least one article is at least equal to a predetermined maximum thickness; wherein the detector is a thickness detector and the shredder further comprises a presence detector configured to detect a presence of the at least one article to be shredded being received by the throat, wherein the controller is configured to 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; wherein the controller starts the motor to drive the cutter elements in the shredding direction only in response to both 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 thereof is less than the predetermined maximum thickness. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification