Appeal No. 97-3214
Application No. 08/280,369
Rudkin-Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1052, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1052
(Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 825 (1988).
As has been admitted by the examiner, Matsunaga fails to
disclose or teach moving the thread sled perpendicular to the
material pass line. In this regard, the examiner points out
that Graf teaches displacing a tool station component in a
direction transverse to the material pass line, and Brand teaches
displacing a material conveying means transversely to the tools
operating upon it. From these teachings, the examiner concludes
that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the
art to modify the Matsunaga system so that it meets the terms of
claim 1. We do not agree.
Graf discloses a system for punching sheet material with a
plurality of tools carried by a rotatable tool holder (Figure
11). The tool holder is transversely movable across the material
pass line, and advancement of the sheet along the pass line
coupled with transverse positioning of the proper tool results in
punching in the desired location. However, as we understand the
Graf machine, while the tool holder is movable transversely, it
does not move to an “inactive” position, that is, “out of” the
material pass line. It would appear that, at best, the
transverse movement of the tool holder merely allows one of the
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