Patents
This industry, over the last 50 years, has only four major technology players:
1. The Williams family of St. Louis
2. The Eidal – Burda family of New Mexico and Oregon
3. The Newell family of Texas
4. The Griesedieck family of St Louis
The following patents show this progression:
The famous twin barrel Eidal shredder which was eventually copied by the Dravo group that pioneered the use of a twin rotor car shredder. This design is the only design of its kind and there are no other companies in the world to make this design even today since its patent in 1971. The technology and patents were purchased by the Burda family in 1983 from the Pangborn division of Carborundum in Hagerstown, Maryland.
This is a patent that hides the fact that the Eidal shredder was incorporated in a scrap handling and shredding systems at a rail siding and that there was a tie in with the Alter group in St Louis and the Eidal group in New Mexico.
This is a patent that we feel shows the first attempt by a German group who may be affiliated with the Thyssen Steel group that we feel eventually evolved into the Henschell shredder group and then the Danielli group of italy for a car shredder which is what we call the Akros Henschell shredder. This design uses an identical concept to the Eidal shredder and is often considered the German knockoff of the Eidal Shredder.
This is a patent that we feel shows the first major attempt by the Dravo group to copy or improve on the Eidal design and to enter into the market in a competitive manner against the Eidal design with their own shredder using the core concepts of the Eidal patents. This design uses an identical concept to the Eidal shredder and is well known as the Dravo knockoff of the Eidal shredder. Dravo as mentioned above was originally contracted to design and build the first Eidal vertical shredder by the Eidal international company of New Mexico. This Dravo concept lead the way to the Akros Henschell design knockoff of the Dravo, Eidal shredder which is identical in design today in 2012 to this patent data.
We highly suspect that this is the leading patent or design concept that was copied or utilized by various German group involved in the Akros Henschell design to enter into the auto shredder field with an Eidal Dravo knockoff design.
The Dravo shredder brand and Dravo patents and Dravo shredder designs were assumed by the Burda family when the line was assimilated in 1983 by the Burda group.
Scrap shredder technology that evolved with the horizontal shredder of the Newell and Williams design.
This is one of the first concept machines in the tub grinder industry pioneered by the Jones and the the Medallian groups for farm use and grinding of materials in a hammermill mounted assembly using a rotating tub to grind larger bulky slugs of hay for feeding cattle on large acre open range farms. The line was purchased by the Burda family in 1986 when Medallion Farmhand abandoned the design and product line.
This is a Carborundum patent for a top rotor design change in the Eidal shredder or the Eidal grinder to make refuse derived fuel and other materials which was made to assist in the rdf market with the city of chicago and the city of Edmonton, Canada where refuse derived fuel was being produced with the Eidal shredders. This patent and technology was purchased in the sale of the Eidal assets in 1983 by the Burda family of Wilsonville, Oregon.
This was an attempt by the Heil and Tollemache group of England to design a vertical grinder that would compete with the Eidal vertical grinder in the solid waste market. The line was successful from 1975 to 1985 when it was abandoned by the Heil group in the USA. Today it is owned by others in England and is limited in its sales scope by its obscurity in the industry today.
Today, the Heil line of Tollemache shredders are serviced by the Eidal-Burda group of companies as they are basically abandoned by the former suppliers of these machines.
This is a patent on a grinder ring similar to that used in the Eidal shredder and outlines a different geometry to handle better wear.
The famous Zizzo patent which was derived from the Dravo designs and the Eidal designs with the last double rotor eidal shredder to be placed in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1993 by Dan Zizzo of Zizzo scrap metal. Daniel Zizzo was convinced that the Eidal shredder and the Dravo shredder was the best machine in the world to shred scrap metal in the highest density of 90 pounds per cubic foot. This patent is actually a collaboration of Dan Burda and Dan Zizzo to take the rotor of the Eidal and make it more effective by making it a double rotor. The product line was never taken to market by Dan Zizzo and was purchased in 2006 by the Burda family to consolidate the patents and technology under their Eidal group.
Ideas of Dan Burda of Eidal and the Burda family in regard to designs for vertical shredders:
Since 1983 Dan Burda has been the principal design innovator in the eidal type of vertical shredder. It takes time and effort and money to patent concepts and ideas today and we feel it is better to just build and make claims later to concepts and ideas that have been built. What we have built for the eidal vertical shredder are too numerous to mention but some of these are the following:
- Christmas tree rotor
- Barrel rotor
- Ice cream cone rotor
- Ice cream cone tub
- Barrel tub
- Christmas tree tub
The combinations of these designs gives you a matrix of at least 9 major designs for rotor and tub combinations of the vertical shredder.
The use of fixed and swing type hammers and fixed and swing flails is obvious to the design. The use of different knocker assemblies is also obvious. The use of explosion venting is obvious. The use of eject doors partial or whole on the tub is also obvious. The use of discharge methods and assemblies is also obvious. The use of different rpm and hp configurations is also obvious. Slow, medium and fast speed are good considerations for various materials and applications. We feel that what has been invented in vertical shredders has been invented or built.
85067 Burbank, Saturn, Eidal-Burda
The patent issued as 85067 was cited by the Culbertson legal patent team in research documents as being the real first patent and technology in the application of a dual shaft shear type shredder in 1858, and although it does not show the true solid coaxing cutter design of modern shear shredders this is probably the basis for all shear type shredders, or the first patented document showing the technology on record that we have found.
2753908 Anderson, Saturn, Eidal-Burda
The patent issued as 2753908 shows the shear shredder concept as a base line for the use of an outer rounded cutter edge and multi hook blade in the middle of shearing edges which has been used by many in this industry including saturn and Tri-c and even Aljon of Iowa.
This machine was designed to explore low cost shredders for service stations in the USA by the Coats Hennessey group who provided equipment for changing tires and balancing tires in service stations in the usa and was abandoned when discovery that service stations were not able to afford the purchase of a $10,000.00 machine.
The patent issued as 3868062 is one of the first hydraulic driven patents for shredders that is really the true benchmark for shear type shredders and the method to drive them hydraulically.
The reason for this method of drive arrangement was based on the fact that hydraulic driven shredders could reverse on materials much faster and more regularly than electric driven shredders. The industry has fought over issues of which drive is better and the real fact is that both drive arrangements in shear type shredders are often used for the same application but in some instances an electric drive or a hydraulic drive is a better selection. Only time will show which drive is better and this debate is one that we think is silly and not worthy of the time taken to explain the bias in the industry that some groups take to promote their product line. It’s a plain fact, and one that we document for the world to know.
This product line and patents were purchased for $10,000.00 by the Burda family group in 1993 to fulfill the need of their product lines.
The patent issued as 3880361 is often cited as the first electric driven shredder patent but in reality it is not as there is a prior Schwarz patent. But it is one of the design concepts in the field that drove commercially viable shredder brands, the Shredpax and the Saturn shredder brands. This patent was issued from Germany to Al Kaczmarek and his family of Chicago and used as the basis of the product lines that they promoted for over 35 years until they were assimilated into the Burda brands in 2008 on the death of the founder of Shredpax, Al Kaczmarek.
The base issue of this patent is to show the design of the Schwarz design that was built in Germany and licensed to the Kaczmarek family of Chicago, Illinois.
The Shred-Tech and the shred it and the Brentwood and a dozen other brand lines today are all direct designs of this product line patents.
This patent shows the application of a shear type shredder for waste processing in a mini version for volume reduction of material.
The Saturn manufacturing group had been building shredders since 1972. The patent issued 4034918 which probably should not have been issued as it was known technology of its day, per Vernon Burda to his son in 1977. This patent shows an extension of the shear type shredder with a hydraulic drive arrangement and is often cited as the first issue of a patent application for a hydraulic driven shear type shredder by the Burda family under the Culbertson patent name, with Mike Culbertson being the son in law of Vern Burda, who was actually given the honorary title to this design patent with Mr. James Keller, who worked at a local hydraulic supply group in Portland, Oregon. This design was based on the Cunningham, and the Schwarz machines which was imported by the Al Kaczmarek of the TEG group of Chicago and his family with the Kleco group of Cleveland and Shred Pax group of chicago. This design was vastly pioneered and improved under the contract manufacturing of the Saturn manufacturing, Burda family group with the assistance of their friends at Salem equipment in Salem, Oregon and Lew Judson, of the Judson family group, who owned Salem Equipment. Bob Gasser was the design engineer at Saturn and a friend of the Burda family that participated in the design of the Saturn shredder with inputs from a wide range people from 1972 to date.
The Saturn shredder was the first USA made, commercially successful, hydraulic driven shear type shredder group in the world and one of only three major groups in the world, Shredpax and Lindemann being the second and third world leading shredder groups at that time. All three product lines were invented in about the 1972 at a time frame when pioneering work was the only way to invent a product line in the shear type shredder field. Both electric driven and then hydraulic driven shear type shredders were pioneered during this time frame.
The hydraulic design was protected by patents and owned by the Burda family of Wilsonville, Oregon.
The electric driven design was not protected by patents and was made by Saturn and Shred Pax almost on an exclusive basis for worldwide distribution.
Vernon Burda and Dan Burda were the principals at the Saturn manufacturing company with the rest of the family owning shares in the company. Dan Burda joined the family business in 1977 and is the second generational leader of the Burda and Eidal group of companies.
This is a knockoff of the Saturn shredder and the centromorgardshammer shredder buy the Dallas, Texas triple s dynamics group owned by the Sullivan family in an attempt to enter into the shear type shredder field.
Only a few of these machines were built, North Slope Borough in Dead Horse, Alaska being the first and the major concept in the design was to eject un-shreddables from the shredding chamber that was accomplished by eject doors on the hoppers or vertical removal from the hopper. The concept was not unique but was novel at this time for use in a large shear type shredder.
This is a patent that is based on patent filings that were made by Dan Burda in 1982 for sensing of shredder jams and control of the shredder to reverse the machines to unjam the shredders.
It should not have been granted as it was designed by Dan Burda for the Martin Marietta SSI project that Dan Burda bid and submitted with the eventual build of the machine in 1984 and the design concept was first invented by Dan Burda the original owner and inventor of the SSI shredder line that was eventually given to Tom Garnier and Warren Rosenfeld of Portland, Oregon due to a dispute over leadership of the company. Tom Garnier was the boyfriend of Sue Burda, and employed as a carpenter in Portland, Oregon, and received his first employment in shredders and training from the Burda family of the Saturn shredder group from Dan Burda and Vernon Burda.
This patent should not have been granted as it was prior art used by the Saturn shredder group in 1980 with container recovery of Nasshua, New Hampshire
The patent should not have been granted and was done to promote the ego of Tom Garnier of SSI shredding systems inc.
It was not commercially successful as shredders did not need to have tire beads removed prior to shredding.
The product line was assimilated into the Burda products on the death of Ralph Voigts in 2008.
