Appeal No. 2003-0587
Application No. 09/533,514
consideration by the examiner pursuant to a restriction
requirement. Claims 1 through 19, 36 and 42 through 44 have been
canceled.
As noted on page 1 of the specification, appellants’
invention relates to a case packer designed to pack containers
(typically bottles or cans) into cases or trays at speeds up to
40 cases per minute. The particular problems addressed by
appellants relate to perceived deficiencies in prior art lift
table arrangements associated with such drop-type case packers
1) where high levels of shock loading are transmitted to
containers released from the grid section of the case packer when
they fall into the empty cases or trays on the lift table, and
2) with concerns over machine speed. In the paragraph bridging
pages 6 and 7 of the specification, appellants make note that
[t]he lifting table of the present invention is motor
driven and controlled to limit the shock loading
experienced by the containers as they are positioned
within the cases. The lifting table includes a pair
[sic] spur gears driven by the motor in meshing
arrangement with a pair [sic] rack gears each mounted
to a table and a novel gear guide to maintain proper
engagement between the racks and gears and further to
provide for backlash adjustment between the gears. A
vibration and shock absorbing mount is used to position
the motor to the machine to eliminate shock loading
effects on the drive system and on the containers
themselves.
2
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