Patent Application
20120267464
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a shredder and, in particular, to a shredder with adjustable paper feeding opening.
2. Related Art
With the coming of knowledge economy era, more information has values and impacts. Therefore, a lot of such information needs to be encrypted. To reduce the risk of releasing secret information printed on paper, companies make use of various kinds of shredders to destroy such information.
Existing shredders generally consist of a top cover and a shredder body. The top cover has a paper inlet. The shredder body contains blades. Sheets of paper enter the shredder body via the paper inlet. The paper is then cut into pieces by the blades, The width of the paper inlet of such shredders is fixed. If the width is too small, then there might be problems in backing paper. If the width is too big, then the shredder may be damaged when processing too many sheets. Therefore, the shredders need to be improved.
In view of the foregoing, the invention provides a shredder with adjustable paper feeding opening. The disclosed shredder includes a top cover and a shredder body, The top cover has a paper inlet. A rotatable adjusting bar is provided under on side of the paper inlet. The adjusting bar is parallel to the paper inlet. A paper feeding opening forms between the adjusting bar and the other side of the paper inlet. The adjusting bar is controlled by an adjusting device.
The adjusting device according to a first embodiment of the invention includes a knob on the top cover, a worm connected with the knob, and a worm gear connected with the worm. The worm wheel is connected and fixed to one end of the adjusting bar.
The adjusting device according to a second embodiment of the invention includes a handle on the top cover and two fixing bases supporting the adjusting bar. One end of the adjusting bar goes through the corresponding fixing base to connect to the handle.
The fixing bases have fixing holes, around which are concave parts for the adjusting bar to rotate.
By rotating the adjusting bar, one can effectively control the width of the paper inlet. The invention thus overcomes the difficulty in backing paper or the problems due to too many sheets of paper to process at a time. The quality of the product is apparently higher.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the invention, and wherein:
The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements.
Please refer to
The adjusting device includes a knob 1 on the top cover 3, a worm 5 connected and fixed to the knob 1, and a worm gear 6 connected with the worm 5. The worm gear 6 is connected and fixed to one end of the adjusting bar 7.
To adjust the size of the paper feeding opening 12, one simply rotates the knob 1 on the top cover 3. The knob 1 then rotates the worm 5, which in turn rotates the worm gear 6 that further rotates the adjusting bar 7. The size of the paper feeding opening 12 is thus adjusted.
The maximum width of the paper feeding opening 12 is the same as that of the paper inlet 2. Therefore, the width of the paper inlet 2 can be designed to be slightly larger. The paper feeding amount is then moderated by the width of the paper feeding opening 12.
A second embodiment of the invention is shown in
The adjusting device in the second embodiment includes a handle 9 on the top cover 3 and two fixing bases 8 for supporting the adjusting bar 7. One end of the adjusting bar 7 goes through the corresponding fixing base 8 and connects to the handle 9.
Each of the fixing bases 8 has a fixing hole 10, around which is a concave part 11 for the adjusting bar 7 to rotate. The fixing holes 10 hold the ends of the adjusting bar 7. The concave parts 11 provide space needed for the rotation of the adjusting bar 7.
To adjust the size of the paper feeding opening 12, one simply rotates the handle 9 on the top cover 3. The handle 9 directly rotates the adjusting bar 7, thereby adjusting the size of the paper feeding opening 12.
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.
