Method and apparatus for shredding paper or the like

A paper shredder comprising:

• housing means having enclosed sides with an inlet therein for permitting the entrance of at least one sheet of paper and an outlet therein for permitting the discharge of shredded paper fragments;
• pathway means for defining a given pathway of travel to permit the passage of said paper in a given path traversing from said inlet to said outlet;
• means for shredding said paper as it traverses from said inlet to said outlet, said shredding means including a plurality of bristles whose tip portions form a cylindrical surface;
• said pathway means including means defining a drive pathway extending along a section of said given pathway of travel;
• means for moving said paper along said drive pathway and into intersecting engagement with the bristles of said shredding means;
• elongated arcuate plate means having an arcuate surface throughout its length, said length being substantially coextensive with the longitudinal length of said shredding means;
• means for mounting said arcuate plate means in a parallel spaced-apart confronting relationship relative to a given sector of the cylindrical surface formed by said tip portions of said shredding means;
• means including said sector of the cylindrical surface formed by the rotating bristle tip portions and the arcuate surface of said plate means for defining an arcuate shredding pathway, said given pathway of travel including said arcuate shredding pathway;
• and
• means driving rotatably said shredding means for moving the paper being shredded into and along substantially the entire arcuate shredding pathway so the plane surface of the paper being shredded comes into shredding engagement with said means for shredding over and along substantially the entire arcuate shredding pathway.