Document Shredder

A document shredder is an appliance used to cut paper into strips (or chips) so that all information on the paper is permanently illegible.  What kinds of businesses see fit to use a document shredder?  Plenty! 

While it’s presumable that government agencies and important authority figures would have to use a document shredder, in this day and age where identity theft is prevalent, many commercial businesses must use the document shredder to ensure customer privacy is protected.  Security personnel recommend that any business (or individual) that uses forms or receives mail involving bills, credit card statements, bank account statements or similar documents use a document shredder to avoid fraudulent activity.

The document shredder actually has origins dating back to 1909.  The inventor’s name was Abbot Augustus Low and his patented invention was known as the “waste paper receptacle”.  However, this prototype of the document shredder was never manufactured.  The first document shredder to be manufactured was Adolf Ehinger's document shredder in 1935 Germany.  However, Ehinger claimed that the original waste paper receptacle was not his inspiration but instead, he got the idea from a hand-crank pasta maker!  Ehinger first marketed the idea to government agencies and financial institutions and eventually improved on the technology.  His company, EBA Maschinenfabrik continues to this day under the name EBA Krug & Priester GmbH & Co. 

If you are looking for a document shredder then you will have to choose between seven technological styles of cutters.  First, there’s the strip cut shredders which use knives to cut long narrow strips; then there is the cross cut shredder which uses contra-rotating drums to cut sheets into squares; particle-cut shredders cut sheets very tiny, as do granulators; there are also hammer mills, which pound paper through a screen; a pierce and tear rotating blades shredder and lastly, grinders.

For more information on document shredders visit the listed link that follows.