Appeal No. 1997-0347
Application 08/193,654
continuous web of material. Appellants' second driving device
specifically includes a lever arm biased into abutment with
the web so that the second pulling force is at least 20% of a
total pulling force required to pull the web through the
machine. See the "wherein" clause in appealed claim 14. By
using a lever arm with a pulling force of at least 20% of the
total pulling force, appellants' claimed invention permits
higher web speeds to be obtained with existing upstream driv-
ing and metering devices (i.e., the first driving device) by
alleviating the load on the first driving
device thereby permitting the first driving device to be
operated at a greater speed.
Harvey, the examiner's "primary reference," dis-
closes a labeling machine for dispensing labels from a con-
tinuous web of material which includes (as shown in Figure 8)
a first driving device, i.e., a powered metering roll 73,
which feeds the web through the machine. See Harvey at
column 9, lines 37 through 39. Harvey also discloses a pow-
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