Appeal No. 2006-0235
Application 09/733,352
angle to the support for” tractor assembly 11, and thus, “the output of the load cell 29 indicates
applied tension in the fiber” such that “[w]hen tension is increased, less force is applied to
transducer 30 and vice versa” (col. 2, ll. 42-48).
The tractor assemblies are connected by belt 25 extending from variable speed drive
motor 24 to constant torque device 26, providing “means for driving” second tractor assembly 11
(col. 2, ll. 29-31; Fig. 1). Knowles would have taught that the “unloaded speed” of the drive
including belt wheel shaft 27 of constant torque device 26 “is faster than the rotational speed of”
first tractor assembly 10, and when second tractor assembly 11 “pulls” fiber 18, “its speed is
reduced by causing the constant torque device 26 to overload and the clutch to slip” (col. 2,
ll. 33-37; Fig. 1). When fiber 18 leaves tractor wheel 12 at point 17, the fiber tension “is at the
test setting” and remains at that setting until reaching tractor wheel 19 at point 31, decreasing
from that point to point 32 of tractor wheel 19, such that “a constant test tension is applied to the
fiber in the incremental length between” point 17 and point 31, after which the “tension is
released” at and after point 32 (col. 2, ll. 57-66; Fig. 1).
The output of load cell 29 can be “connected to control the constant torque device 26”
(col. 3, ll. 26-28; Fig. 2). Knowles would have taught that “[b]y modifying the power output of
the clutch [of constant torque device 26] in accordance with the output of the load cell 29, the
tension in the fiber can be closely controlled” (col. 3, ll. 28-31).
Knowles also would have taught that idler wheel 33, between first and second tractor
assemblies 10,11 as shown in Fig. 2, “pulls the fiber away from belt 15 so that the fiber [18]
does not wrap around belt wheel 14” of first tractor assembly 10 (col. 3, ll. 16-25).
In comparing the requirements to monitor the fiber tension between the capstans with a
load cell and adjust the speed of one of the capstans in response to feed back from the load cell
of the claimed method encompassed by claim 1 with that of Knowles, the examiner finds that the
load cell 29 “‘indicates’ the tension” which “is the same thing as the claimed ‘monitored,” and
this “feedback serves to adjust the clutch” of constant torque device 26, explaining that “[i]f the
clutch adjustment serves to transmit less power, then the clutch slips more, then the capstan will
rotate less quickly (i.e. the speed is reduced), and if the clutch is adjusted to transmit more
power, it will slip less, then the capstan will rotate more quickly,” citing col. 2, ll. 28-56, and col.
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Last modified: November 3, 2007