Appeal No. 2002-0472
Application No. 09/109,407
positions of the appellants and the examiner with regard to the
merits of these rejections.
DISCUSSION
Risser, the examiner’s primary reference, discloses a cork
feeding device comprising a hopper 1 for holding a plurality of
corks, a plate 3 forming a front wall of the hopper 3, a plate 5
forming a bottom wall of the hopper 3, a drum 6 rotatably mounted
within the hopper 1, a discharge groove 12 on the periphery of
the drum 6 and a complementary notch 13 on the bottom edge of the
plate 3 which cooperate to form an outlet through which the corks
drop when properly arranged within the discharge groove 12,
helical grooves 16 having front edges 17 on the periphery of the
drum 6 at either side of the discharge groove 12 for urging corks
toward the groove and for continuously agitating and stirring the
corks within the hopper 3, and a discharge chute 19 for
sequentially receiving the corks from the outlet. In use,
[a]s the grooved portions [of the drum] pass under
the edge of the plate 5, the corks are raised and also
urged toward the discharge groove 12 by the angularity
between the grooves 16 and the edge of the wall 5,
without danger of cutting or abraiding [sic] the corks.
Then, when a cork becomes positioned longitudinally in
the discharge [groove], it slides down over the arc of
the drum and drops out through the outlet into the
discharge chute 19, the wall 3 cooperating with the
drum to hold back the corks which are not registered in
the discharge groove [page 2, lines 28 through 40].
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