Appeal No. 2006-1463 Page 4
Application No. 10/703,932
Irvine is directed to an improvement for bottom-feeding type stackers in
which each succeeding document is fed along a chute and joins the stack by having
its leading edge projected under the stack of documents (col. 1, ll. 53-56). The
disclosure of Irvine relied upon by the examiner reads as follows:
Ordinarily stacked documents are urged by a
weighted or spring loaded plate or by the force of gravity
toward the collection platform. Therefore, it has been
found that incoming documents may bind or bend when
they impact the stack, either the stacked or incoming
documents may tear, or the incoming documents may fail
to fully enter the stack [col. 1, ll. 57-63].
The above passage discussed the disadvantages of a bottom-feed stacking system
wherein stacked documents are ordinarily urged by a weighted or spring loaded
plate or by the force of gravity toward the collection platform. The Irvine patent is
directed to a planetary rotating spider device that pushes the stacked documents
away from the platform to open a slight gap therebetween and immediately
thereafter thrusts the next succeeding document into the gap until its leading edge
abuts the alignment barrier. Irvine’s planetary rotating spider device, as illustrated
in Figure 1, is provided with two pushing rolls 38, which push the stacked
documents upward, alternated with two feed rolls 46, which thrust the next
succeeding document into the gap.
As is apparent from the above discussion, Irvine provides absolutely no
suggestion to provide a bottom-feed arrangement on the offset stacker of Tsai to
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