Abstract: A chipper has a housing formed with an intake defining a feed direction, a hollow drum rotatable in the housing in a rotational sense about an axis transverse to the feed direction and formed with a plurality of angularly spaced, radially throughgoing, and axially elongated windows, and a respective blade fixed to the drum immediately downstream in the sense from each window. The blades have edges defining on rotation of the drum an orbit. A breaker plate secured in the housing defines with the orbit a gap narrowing toward the drum and is formed with a plurality of wedges extending generally in the direction, having sharp edges directed generally radially at the drum, and spaced radially from the drum. A motor rotates the drum in the sense and thereby presses material fed in the direction into the housing against the wedges to split the material with the wedges, then draw it into the gap, and then comminute it with the blades.

Abstract: A garden chopping/shredding apparatus has a frame provided with an upwardly open intake hopper on the frame having a lower end in which is in turn provided a generally horizontal blade plate and formed about the axis with a plurality of angularly spaced apertures. Respective flat blades carried on the blade plate have cutting edges above the apertures and a plurality of prechopping blades carried on the blade plate projecting upward therefrom have cutting edges inclined upward and inward toward the axis. The drive rotates the plate and the blades in a predetermined direction about the axis so as to define with the cutting edges of the flat blades a generally planar and circular orbit perpendicular to the axis and having an inner periphery offset radially outward from the axis and to define with the cutting edges of the chopping blades an upwardly tapered frustoconical orbit centered on the axis and having a small-diameter upper end and a large-diameter lower end.