Appeal No. 2006-3174
Application No. 10/488,501 4
toothed belts which are adjustable to accommodate different
dimensioned workpieces. The examiner concludes:
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the
art at the time of the invention to provide Hiramoto et al
with toothed belts as the conveying means as taught by
Serra to use known mechanical means as well as to promote
adjustability to the operation [answer at page 3].
Furthermore one of ordinary skill in the art could easily
look to a similar process, such as that provided by Serra,
for various other reasons for aligning the stations in a
linear fashion and transporting the products via two belt
conveyors including: available floor space in the
manufacturing plant, accessing/maintaining the various
stations, restricting air from the sealed package, limiting
lateral movement, etc. [answer at page 6].
We find that Hiramoto discloses a device for sealing-in
pouring spouts in plastic bags which is depicted in Figure 1.
The device includes a drum with a station 3 for inserting a
pouring spout 17 into an opened bag 7 and a station 4 for
sealing the bag 7 and the spout 17 (col 4, lines 23 to 42).
Hiramoto also depicts in Figure 1 that the stations are arranged
so as to be equally spaced from one another around the drum.
We find that Serra discloses a device to transport boxes
which includes two belts C1 and C2, which are depicted in Figure
2 and described as toothed (col. 3, lines 16 to 17). Serra also
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