Appeal No. 2006-1343 4
Application No. 10/121,530
Looking first to the rejections of claims 1, 6 and 7, and
claims 1, 16 and 17 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based on the combined
teachings of Mack, Landgren and Müller, we note that Mack discloses
a device for handling printed products supplied to a stacking
device, which products are picked up at a delivery end of a
printing machine or printed product processing machine (at 45) by a
transport device (2) for further transport via a conveying path to
a transfer/diverter device (8, 9, 14-17) arranged upstream of a
stacking device (10, 11). See, e.g., column 1, lines 8-18 of Mack.
The transport device (2) is a chain-conveyor system where the
printed sheets (24) are transported along the conveying distance
following the slack side (4) of a conveyor chain while being
supported via a continuous floatation-guiding arrangement (6)
supplied with a suitable blast medium (e.g., air) through a
plurality of connection ports (7). An objective of the invention in
Mack is to facilitate transfer of the printed sheets (24) from the
chain-conveyor system to the stacking device while avoiding moving
parts, such as gripper bars (col. 2, lines 26-29). To that end,
Mack uses a diverter and pneumatic conveyor/transfer system to move
the sheets (24) between the chain-conveyor system (2) and the
stacking devices (10, 11), as seen best in Figures 2-3 of the
patent.
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