Appeal No. 2005-1396
Application 09/739,990
In the rejection of claim 44 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a), the
examiner points out that Chou (‘123) discloses an electric heat
sealer comprising a housing (1), a press bar (2) pivotally
connected to the housing, a heating unit (6) including a heating
wire (67) and a support base (63) movably mounted in the housing
(1), a source of current (10), and circuitry connecting the
heating unit and the source of current. As noted on page 5 of
the supplemental answer, the examiner recognizes that Chou (‘123)
does not disclose or teach a heating unit mounted in the press
bar or a metal press plate like that set forth in claim 44 on
appeal secured to the press bar. To account for the above-noted
differences between Chou (‘123) and appellants’ claimed subject
matter, the examiner turns to Netherlands (‘359) and Taiwanese
(‘687), urging that Netherlands (‘359) shows an electric heat
sealer including a heating unit (7, 8) mounted in the press bar,
and that Taiwanese (‘687) shows an electric heat sealer with a
metal press plate (14) positioned on the base (10) so that when
the free end of the press bar (20) is pivoted downwardly the
metal press plate contacts metal tongues (15) of the circuitry to
switch the circuit from an open state to a closed state.
From the above-noted disclosures, the examiner has concluded
that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007