Appeal 2007-2769
Application 09/929,242
driving the cutter if a part of the body of the operator should interrupt these
light barriers. See col. 1, ll. 21-41. This light barrier disclosed by Friemann
as prior art is a proximity system for detecting the presence of the operator
near the cutting tool.
Friemann is directed to an arrangement where the band saw is
immediately stopped when the cutting band is touched by the operator. As
shown in Fig. 2, the band saw 5 runs over insulated guide rollers 6, 7, 8 and
drive pulley 9 rotated by motor M. Two take-up rollers 12 contact the band
saw and continuously sense the capacitance of the band saw system. When
the operator touches the band cutter, the capacitance of the system is thereby
changed in such a manner that the bridge circuit 3 becomes unbalanced and
rapid braking of the motor M results.
Finally, Terauchi discloses a fabric slitting device with a blade 12
rotated by a first motor M. Motor M1 is used to drive the arbor into and out
of the workpiece A. When blade 12 advances too far into the workpiece, not
only is blade 12 stopped, but motor M1 is immediately reversed to retract
the blade from the cutting area.
PRINCIPLES OF LAW
In Graham v. John Deere Co. of Kansas City, 383 U.S. 1, 17-18, 148
USPQ 459, 467 (1966), the Supreme Court set out a framework for applying
the statutory language of §103:
[T]he scope and content of the prior art are to be determined;
differences between the prior art and the claims at issue are to be
ascertained; and the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art
resolved. Against this background the obviousness or nonobviousness
of the subject matter is determined. Such secondary considerations as
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