Appeal No. 97-2720 Page 7
Application No. 08/354,387
feed rollers 41 and 42 at opposite ends thereof. The feed
rollers 41 and 42 engage a sheet S on stack ST at spaced apart
points adjacent to leading edge thereof to feed one sheet S of
the stack ST at a time. Pivotally mounted at each side of
separator 13 by means of pins 43 are sheet corner separators
44 including a tang 45 which rest on top of the sheet stack
ST. The separator tangs rest on the leading corners of the
stack ST and allow only one sheet to be fed at a time.
The appellants argue (brief, pp. 4-5) that DuBois does
not anticipate claim 1 since the sheetpath in DuBois does not
have a variable length between the feedhead and a sheet
delivery area.
We do not agree. We agree with the examiner's reasoning
(answer, pp. 6-7), which we adopt as our own, that the
distance between the feedhead (i.e., separator 13) of DuBois
and the sheet delivery area at the main feed roller 25 of the
copier 10 changes as the stack ST is depleted. Thus, DuBois
discloses a variable length sheetpath between his feedhead
(i.e., separator 13) and a sheet delivery area (i.e., the main
feed roller 25 of the copier 10).
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