Combination leaf and lawn debris blower, comminuting vacuum, and wood chipper

An apparatus for comminuting lawn debris comprising:

• an impeller housing defined by a pair of opposed axial end wails and a substantially voluted peripheral wall therebetween, the housing including a first inlet opening located on one of the end walls for introducing material into the housing, a second inlet opening located on the opposite end wall for introducing material into the housing, and a discharge opening located on the peripheral wall for discharging material from the housing;
• a drive shaft extending into the peripheral housing;
• a drive means coupled with the drive shaft for rotatably driving the drive shaft;
• an impeller within the housing rotatably mounted on the drive shaft, the impeller including a backing plate having an aperture therein and a plurality of radially extending comminuting blades fixed to one face of the backing plate, the impeller blades causing air to be drawn in from the first inlet opening and propelled axially into the housing and through the discharge opening, the backing plate forming a containment surface for limiting the movement of material in one direction along the drive shaft, the comminuting blades extending into the housing for shredding material within the housing between the backing plate and the one axial end wall thereby reducing the size of the material;
• a chipper knife attached to the other face of the impeller and adjacent the aperture for chipping material passing into the housing through the second inlet opening, the aperture permitting material chipped with the knife to pass to the opposite side of the impeller;
• and
• a stator attached to the inner face of the peripheral wall, the stator including serrated teeth, the impeller causing material to be propelled from the chipper knife and comminuting blades and strike the serrated teeth of the stator and be propelled toward the discharge opening.