Patent ID: 8678305

Claim:
A shredder comprising: a housing having a throat for receiving at least one article to be shredded; a shredder mechanism received in the housing and including an electrically powered motor and cutter elements, the shredder mechanism enabling the at least one article to be shredded to be fed into the cutter elements and the motor being operable to drive the cutter elements so that the cutter elements shred the at least one article fed therein; a cam mechanism provided in the throat; the cam mechanism being biased to a disengaged position and movable to an engaged position responsive to insertion into the throat of the at least one article above a predetermined maximum thickness threshold; wherein the cam mechanism is configured such that in the engaged position the cam mechanism engages the at least one article to prevent further insertion thereof into the throat and blocks the throat to prevent further insertion of the at least one article therein, and in the disengaged position the cam mechanism is disengaged from the at least one article to permit further insertion thereof into the throat.