Appeal No. 96-1605
Application No. 07/887,629
This is a decision on an appeal from the examiner’s final
rejection of claims 2, 3 and 11. The only other claims still
pending in the application have been allowed.
In a supplemental answer mailed September 11, 1996 (Paper
No. 29), the examiner withdrew the rejection of claim 11.
Accordingly, the only issue before us is the propriety of the
examiner’s rejection of claims 2 and 3.
Appellants’ invention relates to an apparatus for
separating and rejecting coins. According to appellants’
invention, coins of a first diameter are retained while coins
of a lesser diameter are rejected.
The apparatus recited in claim 2 (which is the only
independent claim still on appeal) includes a primary race
(10), a secondary race (20) and an aperture (30) formed in a
wall between the races to establish communication between the
two races. A means described as a protrusion 22 in the
specification is situated in the region of the aperture (30)
to apply a lateral force to coins traveling down the primary
race from an inlet coin portal (9). The arrangement is such
that coins of the first diameter are too large to pass through
the aperture and into the secondary race. However, coins of a
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007