Appeal No. 2004-0842
Application No. 09/539,454
pans and lids, a lidding device, and a delidding device.” See
the Answer, page 7.
To remedy this deficiency, the examiner relies on the
disclosure of Westover. The appellants do not dispute the
examiner’s finding that Westover teaches the claimed conveyors,
lidding device and delidding device for making pizza shells
(bases). Compare the Answer, page 7 with the Brief, pages 17-19
and the Reply Brief, pages 5-6. Consistent with the examiner’s
undisputed finding, we observe that Westover teaches two
conveyors (10 and 12) wherein the conveyor 12 carries a bottom
iron 26 corresponding to the claimed pan for receiving dough
portions and the conveyor 10 places an upper iron 26
corresponding to the claimed lid assembly over the bottom iron 26
(lidding) before baking and then removes such upper iron
(delidding) after baking. See column 3, line 4 to column 5, line
14, together with Figure 1. We find that Westover, like the
appellants, teaches using these conveyers (including the claimed
lidding and delidding devices) after dough is subjected to
mixing, cutting and proofing. See Figure 5 in conjunction with
column 5, line 31 to column 6, line 5. According to Westover
(column 1, lines 45-46), its system is useful for “conveying the
dough from inlet to outlet in a controlled time interval...”
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