Appeal No. 2004-1523
Application 09/506,920
Contrary to the examiner’s position, there is no disclosure
in Smithe or any other basis we can discern to support the
proposition that the vacuum force applied to the blanks (70) by
air drawn through apertures (26) of table (24) to hold the blanks
in contact with the upper surface (22) of belts (16) in any way
provides control of a first portion of the blanks by drawing and
tightening the blanks against the vertically oriented entrance
and folding edge (62) of the blade member/plowshare (48, 60),
especially in the region of the blade member located under roller
(18) as pointed to by the examiner and shown in Figure 1 of
Smithe. The particular portion of the guide member (60) pointed
to by the examiner (i.e., that located below the roller 18), is
also below the upper support surface (22) of belts (16) and would
clearly not be contacted by the envelope blanks. Moreover, there
is no basis to conclude that the vacuum force applied to the
blanks (70) by apertures (26) would necessarily provide any level
of control of a first portion of the blanks by drawing and
tightening the blanks against the vertically oriented folding
edge (62) of blade member (48, 60) at any other point in the
folding process. See particularly, Figures 6 and 8-18 of Smithe
and the disclosure relating thereto. As is made clear in Smithe
beginning at column 9, line 15, and continuing through column 17,
line 26, the first blade member or plowshare folding device (48,
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