The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 25, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 23, 2001
William C. Prewitt, Berthoud, CO (US);
David Hendrickson, Denver, CO (US);
Chris Hildreth, Northglenn, CO (US);
James G. Leprino, Indian Hills, CO (US);
Leprino Foods Company, Denver, CO (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for shredding a product includes a housing having an interior space bounded by a generally cylindrical sidewall that can include one or more contoured segments. The housing further includes a cutting implement, preferably also contoured, following the contoured segment, with an opening in the sidewall between the contoured segment and the cutting implement that follows it. Preferably, the contours of the cutting implement are different from the contours of the segment that the cutting implement follows. The apparatus further includes a feed hopper through which a product to be shred is fed to the interior space of the housing, an impeller, including at least one impeller paddle, mounted for rotation within the housing about a substantially horizontal axis of rotation, and a driving mechanism coupled to the impeller for rotating the impeller. The product is slid along the inner periphery of the housing by the impeller, at such a speed that centrifugal force keeps the outer face of the product pressed against the inner periphery. As the product passes by a cutting implement, a plurality of shreds are cut from the outer face of the product and discharged from the housing.