Patent ID: 8020795

Claim:
A shredder head comprising: a shredder head housing defining a slot adapted to receive material to be shredded; a motor disposed within the shredder head housing; a plurality of shredder blades disposed within the shredder head housing, driven by the motor and adapted to shred material inserted into the slot; a sensor comprising a thickness gauge and a control mechanism, the thickness gauge comprising a plurality of protuberances located on a common rod and configured to extend into the slot at spaced intervals, the common rod being located outside of the slot and further comprising a switching element, the plurality of protuberances being adapted to extend into the slot such that material inserted into the slot and contacting at least one of the plurality of protuberances causes rotation of the common rod and thereby causing rotation of the switching element located thereon, the displacement of the switching element of the thickness gauge being in an amount generally proportional to a thickness of the material; the control mechanism is disposed within the shredder head housing and comprises a plurality of switches, at least one of the plurality of switches is adapted to be individually activatable, the plurality of switches are positioned such that displacement of the thickness gauge is adapted to cause at least one of the plurality of switches to be activated, the plurality of switches is configured such that a number and/or combination of the plurality of switches that are activated depend on the thickness of the material displacing the thickness gauge, and the control mechanism is in communication with the motor and adapted to select the power of the motor in response to the activation of at least one of the plurality of switches, wherein the shredder head is adapted to reduce the amount of power supplied to the shredder blades when the thickness of the material indicates that maximum power may not be necessary.