Appeal No. 2000-1856 Page 5
Application No. 08/527,671
slots 27 by a guide ring 60 (see Figure 1) which encompasses
the star wheel 25 from the receiving station A around to the
ejection station E. As indicated in column 3, lines 66-68,
the ring guide closes the ends of the slots 27.
Reid discloses an apparatus for inserting cups C into
tubes T. The tubes are conveyed from a chute 70 into recesses
42a of a turret 40. Similarly, cups C are choke fed through a
chute 72 to enable the cups to become engaged with the
recesses 42a. A guide 58 is rigidly mounted upon a framework
10 supporting the turret 40 and “consists of a metal block
having a cylindrically curved concave surface on the side
facing the turret 40 so as to engage and guide the cups C as
they travel in counterclockwise direction with rotating turret
as best seen in FIG. 1" (column 2, lines 46-52).
As Suzuki’s chucks 20 are provided with means for opening
and closing the chucks to contain the contents, it is not
apparent to us why one skilled in the art would have been
motivated to provide a guide rail thereon as proposed by the
examiner. Nevertheless, even if the references were combined
as proposed by the examiner, we agree with appellant that the
applied references do not teach or suggest a step of
“maintaining and positioning said insert in said pocket with a
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Last modified: November 3, 2007