DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 3, and 5-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dahl et al (U.S. Patent No. 4,300,714), hereinafter “Dahl”.
Claim(s) 1, 3, and 5-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dahl et al (U.S. Patent No. 4,300,714), hereinafter “Dahl” in view of Cornell et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0239699), hereinafter “Cornell”.
With respect to Claim 1, Dahl, Figures 1-4, teaches a spreading device 5 for multiple material sheet strips 7 cut from a material sheet by a material sheet cutting device 9,
wherein the material sheet strips 7 are fed to the spreading device along a transport path in a feed plane and leave the spreading device in a discharge plane (See Figure 2) in order to be subsequently transported, offset parallel to one another, to a winding shaft arrangement 10 and to be wound onto a common winding shaft,
wherein the spreading device comprises two deflection elements 12,13, which each extend transversely to the transport path and are configured and arranged such that a strip spacing between two material sheet strips 7 guided adjacent to one another along a transport path in succession over the first 12 and second 13 deflection elements is greater in the discharge plane than in the feed plane,
wherein the deflection elements 12,13 are arranged to be non-rotatable, and in that each deflection element comprises a number of openings 17 in a transport contact area of a deflection sheath surface of the deflection elements covered by the material sheet strips transported thereover, through which compressed air can be blown in order to create a friction-reducing air layer between the material sheet strips and the deflection sheath surfaces of the deflection elements in the transport contact area,
wherein:
- the two deflection elements 12,13 are arranged and configured such that the feed plane and the discharge plane are offset parallel to each other (See Figure 2), and
- the deflection elements are configured such that the material sheet strips are transported between the two deflection elements 12,13 at least approximately at an angle relative to the feed plane and the discharge plane.
Dahl teaches all the elements of the spreading device except for the two deflection elements being at a right angle relative to the feed plane and discharge plane.
However, Cornell, Figure 4A, teaches that it is known to have deflection elements at a right angle (See as).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the deflection elements at a right angle, as taught by Cornell, because the lack of angular constraint on the receiver media allows the receiver media to spread laterally to enable the flattening of the web.
With respect to Claim 3, Dahl further teaches the deflection sheath surfaces or the transport contact surfaces of the deflection elements 12,13 are made from a perforated sheet metal or from a perforated thin-walled material layer.
With respect to Claim 5, Dahl further teaches the two deflection elements 12,13 are arranged and configured such that the feed plane and the discharge plane are offset parallel to one another.
With respect to Claim 6, Dahl further teaches the deflection elements 12,13 are configured in the shape of a segment of a circle in a cross-sectional area extending along the transport path.
With respect to Claim 7, Dahl further teaches a deflection sheath surface of each deflection element 12,13 has a deflection curvature along the transport path of a material sheet strip 7 and, transversely to the transport path, a deflection curvature extending over all material sheet strips.
With respect to Claim 8, Dahl further teaches the spreading curvature of a deflection element 12,13 which extends over all material sheet strips 7 is formed by subsequent reshaping of a deflection element blank that is not initially curved in a spreading direction.
With respect to Claim 9, Dahl further teaches the deflection sheath surfaces 12 of the two deflection elements 12,13 form a wrap-around section of the same size for each material sheet strip 7 along the transport path.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dahl in view of Cornell as applied to Claim 1, 3, and 5-9 above, and further in view of Oechsle et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0010852), hereinafter “Oechsle”.
With respect to Claim 2, Dahl is advance above.
Dahl teaches all the elements of the spreading device except for the deflection sheath surfaces or the transport contact surfaces of the deflection elements are made of a porous and air-permeable material.
However, Oechsle, Figures 1-7, teaches a deflection sheath surfaces or the transport contact surfaces of the deflection elements 10 are made of a porous and air-permeable material 14.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Dahl with porous material, as taught by Oechsle, for the purpose of forming an air pad between the guide surface and the moving material web via the air flowing through this porous material; and the high pressure loss and the porous material produce a very uniform air pad, so that the material web is guided reliably at a relatively small distance from the surface thereby providing a crease-free run.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dahl in view of Cornell as applied to Claims 1, 3, and 5-9 above.
With respect to Claim 4, Dahl is advanced above.
Dahl teaches all the elements of the spreading device but is silent as to the dimensions of the holes being a diameter of less than 0.5 mm, preferably less than 0.2 mm.
However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice, as determined through routine experimentation and optimization, to dimension the holes of Dahl in view of Cornell as specified in Claim 4 because one of ordinary skill would have been expected to have routinely experimented to determine the optimum dimensions for a particular use.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claim(s) 1-9 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM ARAUZ RIVERA whose telephone number is (571)272-6953. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM MDT.
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/WILLIAM A. RIVERA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654