Patent ID: 7222805

Claim:
Material reduction apparatus for processing material comprising: a housing having a material inlet and a discharge outlet; a material feed system to supply the material to said material inlet; a driven rotor in said housing configured to receive and to reduce the material; a cage assembly adjacent said driven rotor, said cage assembly including a pivoting cage and an associated discharge screen to discharge reduced material from said housing through said discharge outlet; a feedback mechanism operatively connected to said driven rotor, and to each of said cage assembly, and said material feed system, for displacing said pivoting cage away from said driven rotor to an opened position while altering a material feed rate of said material feed system responsive to a reduction in a rotational speed of said driven rotor due to said driven rotor encountering a hard to reduce portion of material so as to reduce the rate of feed of material to the rotor while the cage is in the opened position.