Appeal No. 96-1599
Application 07/968,421
in the application, stand withdrawn from consideration
pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.142(b) as being directed to a non-
elected invention.
The subject matter on appeal relates to a method of
transporting along an assembly line a mixed array of different
workpieces. Claim 1 is illustrative and reads as follows:
1. A method of transporting workpieces in an assembly
line in which at least two kinds of workpieces are
transported by mixture, wherein said kinds of said
workpieces are trans-ported by self-propelling
transporting members, and at least three transporting
members are sent off from a starting end of said assembly
line, said method comprising the steps of:
determining a transporting pitch to be established,
between adjacent transporting members, for each of
said kinds of workpieces based on a difference in
the number of assembling man-hours required for each
thereof; and
controlling a timing for establishing a transporting
pitch between said adjacent transporting members
consistent with a pre-set transporting pitch by
starting each of said transporting members off from
the starting end of said assembly line such that a
pitch between said adjacent transporting members
becomes equal to that which is set for a workpiece
to be transported by a preceding one of said
adjacent transporting members.
The reference relied upon by the examiner as evidence of
obviousness is:
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