Apparatus for and method of shredding a product

An apparatus for shredding a product, comprising:

• a housing having an interior space bounded by a generally cylindrical sidewall that includes at least one contoured segment, the housing further including a contoured cutting implement following the contoured segment, with an opening in the sidewall between the contoured segment and the cutting implement that follows it;
• 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.

An apparatus having interchangeable cutting assemblies, comprising:

• means for supplying a product to be cut to a selected one of a first cutting assembly and a second cutting assembly;
• the first cutting assembly including (i) a housing having an interior where the product is received from the supplying means, the interior being bounded by a substantially smooth inner periphery, (ii) an impeller rotatably mounted within the housing for sliding the product along the inner periphery of the housing as an outer face of the product is held against the inner periphery of the housing by centrifugal force, (iii) means for cutting slices from the outer face of the product as the impeller slides the product along the inner periphery of the housing, and (iv) means by which the slices are discharged from the housing;
• the second cutting assembly being interchangeable with the first cutting assembly and including (i) a housing having an interior where the product is received from the supplying means, the interior being bounded by an inner periphery, (ii) an impeller rotatably mounted within the housing for sliding the product along the inner periphery of the housing as an outer face of the product is held against the inner periphery of the housing by centrifugal force, (iii) means for cutting a plurality of shreds from the outer face of the product as the impeller slides the product around the inner periphery of the housing, and (iv) means by which the plurality of shreds are discharged from the housing;
• and
• means for rotating the impeller of the selected cutting assembly about a substantially horizontal axis of rotation.

A method of retrofitting a cutting apparatus with a shredder assembly in order to enable the cutting apparatus to make cuts that it could not otherwise make without the shredder assembly, the method comprising:

• detaching an existing generally vertically-oriented housing and impeller from the cutting apparatus;
• installing, in place of the existing housing and impeller, a shredder assembly including (i) a generally vertically-oriented housing having an inner periphery including at least one corrugated segment, (ii) a corrugated cutting implement secured to the inner periphery of the housing across an opening in the inner periphery from the corrugated segment, and (iii) an impeller;
• and
• mounting the impeller within the housing and coupling the impeller to a driving mechanism which rotates the impeller within the housing.

A method of shredding a product, comprising:

• feeding a product to be shred to an interior of a housing which has an impeller rotatably mounted therein;
• rotating the impeller about a substantially horizontal axis of rotation at a speed sufficient to force the product against an inner periphery of the housing throughout each revolution of the impeller;
• directing the product along the inner periphery of the housing with the impeller, in sliding engagement with the inner periphery of the housing;
• cutting a plurality of shreds from an outer face of the product as the impeller directs the product along the inner periphery of the housing;
• and
• discharging the plurality of shreds from the housing.