Patent ID: 8727251

Claim:
A portable shredder for precomposting household organic material, the shredder comprising: a removable hopper having an upper opening and lower opening, a front side, a rear side, a left side, and a right side, wherein: the size of said upper opening is smaller than the size of said lower opening, whereby the movement of organic material being shredded will be biased to move toward the larger lower opening, said hopper has a plurality of rigid and substantially stationary struts disposed within said hopper, each of said struts spans from one end to said front side of said hopper to the other end to said rear side of said hopper, said each of said struts has a side profile that is different from at least one other of said plurality of struts, and each of said plurality of struts is configured to receive a rotatable axle through its central region, said rotatable axle being rotatably mounted on each end to said left and right sides of said hopper and said axle being able to rotate independently of said substantially stationary struts, and said rotatable axle is comprised of a plurality of blades that are fixedly mounted to said axle and rotate with said axle, each of said blades being angularly offset about said axle relative to the angular position of the next-closest blade on each side of the blade, and one of said stationary struts disposed between any two rotatable blades; and whereby when said axle and its blades are rotated relative to said hopper's stationary struts, in either direction, organic material that is introduced to said hopper's upper opening is drawn between said stationary struts by said rotating blades and is caused to exit through said lower opening in a precomposted state.