"FEED SYSTEM FOR A DATA MEDIUM SHREDDER"

The present invention generally refers to shredders, which reduce paper to be removed either to small pieces or thin little strips, and more specifically to a data medium feed system for small size shredders, also called "desk-side", that is, those shredders particularly compact to be used along with desks in offices, in addition or in place of common wastepaper baskets.

The compact paper shredders so called "desk-side" in accordance with known art are normally provided with a feed slit such that they can receive inside a limited number of sheets of paper, which are readily shredded by suitable cutting blades arranged inside the machine and driven by a little electric motor.

Although most of up-to-date "desk-side" paper shredders are provided with safety devices in order to avoid an accidental cutting blades operation in consequence of careless insertion of hand by an user into the paper feed slit, it may anyway occur, especially either if there is little knowledge of the machine either during cleaning or handling stage of the machine, with to say the least detrimental effects.

Moreover, the "desk-side" paper shredders, just in view of their small size, can inwardly receive and, as a consequence, shred a limited number of sheets of paper, but above all they require these sheets of paper to be well spread, that is not rolled into a ball, before their insertion into the machine feed slit. This is particularly troublesome when the paper shredding machine is used

in place of the wastepaper basket, because it often happens that users from force of habit roll sheets into a ball before their disposal, thus being unable to insert them into the narrow feed slit of the machine.

GB A 2117668 discloses a paper feeder having an aperture of the casing top covered with a lid pivotally supported by the housing. Said lid is operatively associated, by at least one pivoting bearing, to a limit switch able to shutdown shredder motor at any lid motion, thus increasing safety feature of the shredder. The foregoing document states the feeder capability to handle not only flat paper sheets but also crumpled paper. However, since there is no device adapted to handle rolled paper, said feeder cannot shred rolled paper, which is very common in use.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feed system for small size paper shredders such that it is able to receive either well spread sheets of paper, as it occurs in the machines of known art, either sheets rolled into a ball, thus being able to use the same machine as a wastepaper basket.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a paper feed system for small size paper shredders such that it is able to prevent an accidental access to the machine cutting blades, because such blades are held in a position sheltered from accidental contact with user hands and the paper shredder can not start up if the cutting blades are not properly hidden for user and unreachable for hands or any other item which can cause damages to people or to mechanic parts of the machine.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a paper feed system for paper shredders which allows to free the machine from an accidental obstruction in a easy and safe way, without removing any part of the machine. In addition the present invention aims to provide a combined feed system which comprises, besides the aforementioned paper feed slit, a data medium feed slit which allows users to dispose a data medium such as CD- ROM^ DVD-ROM, smart card, magnetic card and the like.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the data medium system for shredders according to the present invention will be turned out more clear by the following disclosure and the attached drawings, regarding some exemplary embodiments provided in an illustrative and not limiting form. Obviously, the same reference numerals in various views indicate the same or equivalent portions. Figure 1 is a cross-sectional side view which illustrates the paper feed system for shredders according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in open mode;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional of the system in Figure 1, in close mode;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional top view of main parts of a shredder provided with the feed system according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of which illustrates the combined paper/data medium shredder, provided with a suitable bin, according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the system in Figure 4. In the attached drawings and in the following disclosure only those parts, which constitute the innovative feed system according to the present invention, will be illustrated because the remaining parts of the "desk-side" shredder enclosing such a system are known by those skilled in the art.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2 of the attached drawings, a preferred exemplary embodiment of paper feed system for paper shredder is illustrated according to the present invention. The paper feed system comprise first of all a lid 1, preferably made of transparent or opaque plastic material, placed on the top of the shredder and linked thereto by hinges 3. The lid can take an open position, illustrated in Figure 1, which allows user to insert at the upper part of the shredder a certain amount of paper C rolled into a ball, and a closed position, illustrated in Figure 2, in order to obtain a slot 5 functioning as a feed slit for introduction of flat sheets of paper into the same paper shredder.

The feed system therefore comprises a rotary member 7, visible sectioned in Figure 1 and 2 and on top view in Figure 3, preferably in the form of a cylinder and provided with a plurality of fins 9 extending lengthwise and functioning to grab and drag paper C placed in the upper part of the shredder. The motion of the rotary member 7 depends on that of cutting blades 11 of the shredder. More particularly, a drive member is provided, such as a belt 13,

which can transfer rotational motion of the blades 11 to the dragging member 7, tough motion transmission can also occur by other systems, for example by gears.

The cutting blades 11 and, consequently, the rotary member 7 are actuated by an electric motor 15 by means of a suitable transmission system 21, said electric motor 15 and said transmission system 21 being members known perse inside of a common "desk-side" shredder.

In order to use the shredder provided with feed system according with the invention as a common wastepaper basket, user first of all has to lift the lid 1 to the open position, thus being able to insert a certain amount of paper rolled into a ball C comes in contact with the rotary member 7. It is important to point out that, when the lid 1 is open, the shredder cannot operate, so preventing from an accidental contact with the cutting blades 11 being in rotation and granting maximum of safety for user. There is, indeed, on the lid 1 a lever 17 or an actuating magnet for a safety microswitch (not shown) which allows actuation of motor 15 and of dragging and cutting members thereto linked only when the lid 1 is in closed position.

Closure of lid 1, provided preferably with clutch decelerators or other dampening system, will so suffice to carry out the destruction of the paper rolled into a ball C placed at the upper part of the shredder. The safety microswitch, as soon as it detects the lid 1 in closed position, allows the prompt actuation of the motor 15 and the simultaneous motion of the cutting blades 11 and of the rotary member 7, the latter functioning to drag all of the paper C

inside the machine towards said cutting blades 11 for an easy and efficient destruction. As an alternative and/or in addition, it is possible to set in motion the shredder by an appropriate command button (not shown), but always with lid in closed position. For a full shredding of all the paper rolled into a ball C inside the paper shredder, operating cycles of the machine about twenty seconds long are provided.

With closed lid 1 it is, in any case, possible to use the shredder provided with the feed system according to the invention in a common way, that is to say to insert in the machine, through the feed slit 5, a suitable amount of flat sheets of paper, that is not rolled into a ball. The presence of one or more photocells 19 at the feed slit 5, preferably a photocell placed on the lid 1 and a photocell placed on the main body of the paper shredder, will allow the actuation of the motor 15 and of the cutting members every time flat sheets of paper will be inserted in the machine. Also in this case, because the lid 1 must be closed so that the paper shredder can operate, it is not possible for user to come in contact in any way with the internal moving members of the machine.

Lifting the lid 1 will suffice to be able to clear possible paper-jams either of paper rolled into ball either of flat sheets, without removing any part of the machine, to have direct access to the cutting blades 11 and to solve the problem safely, because the lever 17 placed on the lid 1 in lifted position does not allow the accidental actuation of the paper shredder.

Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, which shows another embodiment of the present invention, a second feeder slit 22, embedded in the shredder, is

provided allowing user to dispose a data medium, such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, smart card, credit card and the like, by inserting said data medium in said second feeder slit 22. After insertion into said slit 22 the data medium falls through a narrow passage 24 formed between said slit 22 and a set of cutting blades 23 adapted to shred data medium materials, such as resilient or hard plastic. Once the data medium has been shredded, its pieces are disposed and stored into a data medium bin 25, placed downstream in respect of the data medium cutting blades 23. Preferably said cutting blades 23 are actuated by a common electric motor, shared with the paper cutting blades 11 and with said rotary member 7 for rolled paper, by means of a suitable transmission (not shown). Clearly the shredder has also a bin 21 for shredded paper.

In addition, as shown in figs. 4 and 5, a cut-proof cover 26 is provided above the cutting blades housing in order to protect user hands during shredder operation. Therefore from the previous disclosure it can be understood that the paper feed system for paper shredders according to the present invention completely achieved the intended objectives in an easy, reliable and also inexpensive way. In any case it is to be clear that various changes, additions and/or replacements could be carried out, without for this reason falling out of the protection scope of the invention, defined by the following attached claims.