Appeal No. 2003-0214
Application 09/441,490
Attention is directed to the appellants’ main and reply
briefs (Paper Nos. 12 and 16) and to the Office actions dated
August 28, 2001 and January 30, 2002 and the examiner’s answer
(Paper Nos. 3, 7 and 14) for the respective positions of the
appellants and examiner regarding the merits of this rejection.
DISCUSSION
Corsini, the examiner’s primary reference, discloses an
apparatus and method for arranging groups of products, e.g., die-
cut packaging blanks, on a pallet. The apparatus 1 includes an
initial station 8 for receiving stacks 3 of the products from a
forming machine (not shown), a station 4 for forming the stacks
into ranks 6, i.e., rows of stacks having lengths essentially
equal to the width of a pallet, conveyor means 5 for transporting
the stacks 3 from the initial station 8 to the rank forming
station 4, a pallet loading station 12, a roller set 30 for
conveying the ranks from the rank forming station 4 to the pallet
loading station 12, a motor driven roller set 31 beneath the rank
forming station 4 and the roller set 30 for feeding pallets 7 to
the pallet loading station 12, a movable arm 10 fitted with a
claw 11 for placing ranks on a pallet so as to form one or more
layers 15, and means 14 including a swivelling arm 39 having
suction cups 41 for laying a separating sheet 16 stored at an
3
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