Appeal No. 2004-2315
Application No. 09/348,155
15. We also appreciate that the tail edge gripper 44 of
Carricato functions to release sheets onto the pile 38 without
tail flutter. While the examiner’s citation of this similarity
of purpose as the rationale for providing trailing edge grippers
on the gripper cylinder of Rahe as another way to reduce tail-
edge flutter has a certain logic, for the reasons explained below
we find ourselves in agreement with appellants’ argument (main
brief, pages 10-12) that this modification would not have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in the absence of
appellants’ own disclosure.
Looking at the operation of Carricato’s apparatus in more
detail, first a sheet is transferred from gripper 18 of chain
16 to transfer cylinder 26, where the sheet is gripped at its
front edge by gripper 42 and at its tail edge by gripper 44. As
the cylinder rotates, front edge gripper 42 transfers the front
edge of the sheet to the front edge gripper 36 on chain 34 while
the gripper 44 continues to grip the tail edge of the sheet, so
that the front edge of the sheet is gripped by gripper 36 of
chain 34 and the tail edge of the sheet is gripped by gripper 44
of the transfer cylinder. Subsequently, the tail edge gripper 44
of cylinder 26 cooperates with the front edge gripper 36 on chain
6
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