Patent ID: 7497393

Claim:
A shredder head having shredder blades and an associated safety feature for protecting a portion of a person's body, comprising: a shredder head housing having an outside surface and defining a slot adapted to receive material to be shredded, the shredder head housing including a portion that forms first and second opposing walls to define sides of the slot; a plurality of shredder blades disposed within the shredder head housing and adapted to shred the material inserted into the slot; a first conductive layer disposed along at least a portion of the first opposing wall; a second conductive layer disposed on the shredder head housing and separated from the first conductive layer, wherein the first and second conductive layers are located within the slot such that the portion of the person's body can touch any portion of the outside surface of the shredder housing without contacting either of the first and second conductive layers; a first controller in communication with the shredder and adapted to cause the plurality of shredder blades to deactivate; and a second controller in communication with at least one of the first and second conductive layers and with the first controller, the second controller being adapted to discriminate between contact with the portion of the person's body and metallic and magnetic objects, wherein when the portion of the person's body touches both the first and second conductive layers the second controller is configured to send a signal to the first controller, when the first controller receives the signal the first controller deactivates the plurality of shredder blades, wherein the shredder is configured such that the plurality of shredder blades are not deactivated when only one of the first and second conductive layers is touched by a portion of the person's body.