Appeal No. 2002-0986 Page 4
Application No. 09/222,282
h) a means for counting cutting cycles of the knife
and a means for counting indexing cycles of the indexing
means,
i) a means for activating the knife indexing means
when a preset number of cutting cycles has been completed
and a means for terminating cutting operations when a
predetermined number of indexing cycles has been
completed and a predetermined number of cutting cycles
has been completed.
Bailey, the jumping off point of the examiner’s obviousness rejection, discloses a
knife assembly comprising upper and lower mandrels 12, 13 on which cardboard
cylinders 15, 16 are rotated and a pair of stationary circular knives 47 for cutting the
cylinders. Each knife is mounted on a shaft 44 provided at one end with a one-way
clutch 51. A spring returned air cylinder 81 having a rod 82 extending therefrom is
pivotally mounted to an arm 54 operatively connected to the one-way clutch.
Movement of the arm 54 by actuation of the cylinder rotates the shaft and moves the
cutting surface of the knife. Upon the spring return of the cylinder, the arm is then
returned in an opposite direction, the knife remaining stationary, by virtue of the one-
way clutch, during the return. In an alternate embodiment, the arm 54 is moved
manually to index the knife. A programmable logic control for actuating the cylinder
after a predetermined number of cuts is described in the last paragraph of column 3.
The examiner concedes that Bailey lacks a worm gear and worm shaft as recited
in claim 1. To overcome this deficiency, the examiner relies on the teachings of Kanbar
of a note paper sheet dispenser provided with a drive gear 22 mounted to a shaft for
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