Patent ID: 7857246

Claim:
A shredder adapted to automatically detect when an associated shredder basket is filled with shredded material, comprising: a shredder housing comprising a chamber and a shredder head housing which defines a slot adapted to receive material to be shredded; a plurality of shredder blades disposed within the shredder housing and adapted to shred the material inserted into the slot and to eject the material along a material discharge path, the chamber being located on another side of the plurality of shredder blades from the slot; a controller located in the shredder housing and adapted to control the plurality of shredder blades; a shredder basket removeably positioned in the chamber and adapted to receive the material shredded by the plurality of shredder blades and ejected along the material discharge path, the shredder basket comprising first and second lateral sides, wherein the first and second lateral sides of the shredder basket each comprise a light permeable section; a sensor in communication with the controller to determine when a light beam is interrupted by shredded material in the basket, the light beam extending through at least one of the first and second lateral sides of the shredder basket, extending generally laterally across the shredder basket, and being located generally outside of the material discharge path; and wherein the controller deactivates the plurality of shredder blades when accumulated material in the shredder basket interrupts the light beam.