Appeal No. 2006-1902 Page 5
Application No. 10/317,848
citing U.S. Patent No. 4,910,943 for the description of the machine that drives the
bag material).
Goodenough relates to a reciprocating heat-sealing apparatus. Goodenough
teaches that the sealing jaws, when in the closed sealing position, move parallel
with the path of the tubular material to advance the material one bag length at a
time. (Goodenough, page 1, lines 35-44). Goodenough recognized that when the
sealing jaws were used to advance the bag material, the heat from the seal jaws
combined with the pull exerted from the drawing-on operation led to localized
stress points in the film that could lead to breaks. (Goodenough, page 1, lines 50-
54). Goodenough added rubber pads (20, 22, 22’) located upstream of the sealing
jaws so that during the drawing-on movement at least a substantial portion of the
traction being applied to the sheet material by the pads occurs at a point where the
sheet material is not subjected to softening by the heat-seal jaws and where, by
virtue of the resilient nature of the pads, the grip is distributed substantially evenly
across the width of the sheet material. (Goodenough, page 2, lines 1-11). This
configuration avoids localized stress points in the softened tube (6) lying between
the jaws (7). (Goodenough, page 3, lines 42-47). In the embodiment of Figures 4
and 5, the pads (22, 22’) are offset so that the tube (6) is caused to follow a sinuous
path between the pads so that a greater part of the traction load is taken by the pads
(22, 22’) and thus relieving tension upon the portion of the tube (6) being gripped
between the jaws (7). (Goodenough, page 3, lines 53-64).
We find that these references are directed to different types of packaging
machines that solve different problems. We find no teaching, suggestion, or
motivation that would have led one skilled in the art, possessed with the teachings
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