Patent ID: 8161860

Claim:
A rotary cutting apparatus comprising: a housing; a hollow first shaft member and a second shaft member removably connected to the housing and being non-rotatable relative to the housing; a mantle carrying at least one cutter element and mounted for rotation with respect to the housing and for rotation relative to the first and second shaft members about a longitudinal axis of the first and second shaft members, opposing ends of the mantle radially overlapping with the first and second shaft members and the mantle removable from the first and second shaft members by removing the first shaft member and the second shaft member in an axial direction; a rotary drive mechanism connected to the mantle for rotating the mantle, wherein the first and second shaft members are separate members spaced apart along the longitudinal axis of the first and second shaft members, and opposing ends of the first and second shaft members are each rigidly connected to the housing and non-rotatable relative to the housing; wherein the rotary drive mechanism comprises a drive axle and a transmission member, the drive axle is partially received in the hollow first shaft member; wherein one end of the drive axle is connected to a drive source and the other end of the drive axle has teeth; wherein the transmission member has teeth and is rotatably mounted on an outer periphery of the first shaft member and overlaps with the mantle and the first shaft member, the teeth of the transmission member engages with the teeth of the drive axle to transmit the rotation of the drive axle to the mantle.