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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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) 1-5, 7-14, 16-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Underhill et al (WO 2021/064224), in view of Mate et al (2022/0288608).
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Underhill ‘546 teaches the claimed invention, except as noted:
“In one embodiment of the invention the severance mechanism comprises a severance frame and at least one knife supported on the severance frame for engaging the axially extending round bale circumferentially and being configured for urging radially through the axially extending round bale to the centre thereof.”
1. A cotton harvester for harvesting cotton bolls from standing cotton plants, comprising:
a frame (11);
a conduit cooperable with a fan to provide an air flow through said conduit to convey harvested cotton bolls rearwardly (not shown); and
a continuous round baler (fig 1) supported on said frame () and operable to receive harvested cotton bolls from said conduit and to continuously form a round bale cylinder protruding rearwardly from said round baler (noted above the conduit is not, for use / operability / capability is not shown),
said continuous round baler including a severance mechanism to sever a round bale of selected length from said protruding round bale cylinder for discharge to the ground (severance mechanism 80, see quote above).
Mate et al (2022/0288608) teaches an air duct (200) cooperable with a fan (23):
“[0027] The air duct arrangement 200 includes a first air duct 206 that conducts a flow of air from an air source, such as a cotton conveying fan (which may be similar to the cotton conveying fan 23 discussed above), towards to a nozzle 208. The nozzle 208 is disposed at a distal end 210 of the first air duct 206. A second air duct 212 extends from the nozzle 208 towards the cotton harvesting head 202. A third air duct 214 conducts air from the nozzle 208 towards a cotton accumulator arrangement, which may be similar to the cotton accumulator arrangement 30 described earlier.”
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the continuous baler of Underhill with the teachings of Mate, with a reasonable expectation of success since a more uniform distribution / coverage of cotton is provided, and without the need for additional complex delivery systems, such as using conveyor belts/gears/drives/drums/rolls.
2. The cotton harvester of claim 1 wherein said continuous round baler includes a conical bale chamber and a rearwardly adjacent cylindrical bale chamber (taught in the combination, see Underhill refs 26, 28).
3. The cotton harvester of claim 2 wherein the conical bale chamber and the cylindrical bale chamber are axially aligned (taught in the combination, see Underhill, fig 62).
4. The cotton harvester of claim 2 wherein the conical bale chamber and the cylindrical bale chamber define a common central axis, the common central axis defined by the conical bale chamber and the cylindrical bale chamber lying in a plane substantially parallel to the normal forward direction of movement of the harvester (taught in the combination, see Underhill, fig 62).
5. The cotton harvester of claim 2 wherein the conical bale chamber is defined by a plurality of circumferentially arranged frustoconical bale rotating rolls, and the cylindrical bale chamber is defined by a plurality of circumferentially arranged parallel cylindrical bale rotating rolls (taught in the combination, see Underhill, fig 53, refs 26, 28).
7. The cotton harvester of claim 2 wherein said conical bale chamber forms a conical bale that protrudes into said cylindrical bale chamber (taught in the combination, see Underhill, fig 12).
8. The cotton harvester of claim 7 wherein said conduit delivers cotton bolls to both said conical bale chamber having a first maximum diameter and said cylindrical bale chamber having a second diameter greater than said first maximum diameter, said conical bale chamber protruding said conical bale rearwardly into said cylindrical bale chamber where said cotton bolls delivered to said cylindrical bale chamber add a laminar layer onto said conical bale to increase the diameter of said bale to said second diameter (dimensions taught in the combination, see Underhill, fig 12; the use of the combination of delivery by conduit of cotton bolls is obvious, the use of the delivery is to deliver & add layer(s) onto the bale being formed).
9. The cotton harvester of claim 8 wherein the cotton bolls delivered to said cylindrical bale chamber are delivered to the cylindrical bale chamber towards the forward end of the cylindrical bale chamber (obvious use of the delivery at the cylindrical bale chamber).
“Distal or Rear Bale Support Member
Referring now to Figs. 12, 13 and 24 to 26, the telescoping beam 15 that is oriented in an upward and rearward direction from the front to the rear, has a fixed outer member 30 that is connected, such as by welding, to the mid and rear frame ribs 16, 17. The telescoping beam 15 also includes an inner telescoping member 31 that is connected to a hydraulic retraction cylinder 32 secured to the fixed outer member 30. The inner telescoping member 31 has a support member 33 connected at the rearward distal end of the inner telescoping member 31 that extends to a distal end that generally corresponds to the longitudinal axis of the round bale being formed in the cylindrical bale-forming chamber 28. A conically- shaped distal or rear bale support member 35 is rotatably mounted at the distal end of the support member 33. The rear bale support member is aligned with the round bale being formed. The rear bale support member 35 engages the distal end of the round bale being formed in the cylindrical bale-forming chamber 28 to both support the end of the round bale is the bale protrudes from the cylindrical baleforming chamber 28, and control density of the forming round bale. The diameter of the rear bale support member 35 is smaller than the diameter of the round bale being formed so that the rear bale support member 35 does not disturb the positioning of the net wrap material at the end of the bale. The rear bale support member 35 controls density in the forming bale by controlling the rate of protrusion from the cylindrical bale-forming chamber 28. The inner telescoping member 31 is connected to the hydraulic retraction cylinder 32, best seen in Figs. 12 and 13, such that the rod of the hydraulic cylinder 32 is pulled from the barrel of the hydraulic cylinder 32 as the round bale grows and protrudes axially from the cylindrical bale-forming chamber 28 by reason that the rear bale support member 35 is pushed rearwardly by the growing bale, which telescopingly draws the inner telescoping member 31 out of the fixed outer member 30. By restricting the flow of hydraulic fluid within the hydraulic retraction cylinder 32 as the rod is being withdrawn from the barrel, the hydraulic cylinder acts as a pressure inducing means for controlling the density of the forming bale. By varying the restriction of the flow of the hydraulic fluid the rate of protrusion of the round bale can be slowed, thereby allowing the delivery and application of more crop material into the forming bale and increasing the density of the forming round bale.” (Underhill ‘224)
10. The cotton harvester of claim 2 further comprising a telescoping tailgate (rear support member 35, see Underhill) engageable with a distal end of said round bale cylinder protruding from said cylindrical bale chamber (taught in the combination, see teaching above, Underhill quote).
11. The cotton harvester of claim 10 wherein the telescoping tailgate is moveable with the distal end of the round bale cylinder to control and/or adjust the density of the round bale cylinder (taught in the combination, see teaching above, Underhill quote).
12. The cotton harvester of claim 10 wherein said telescoping tailgate disengages from said round bale after said round bale is severed from said round bale cylinder, the tailgate being retracted and repositioned to engage a new distal end of said round bale cylinder protruding from said cylindrical bale chamber in response to severing of the round bale from the round bale cylinder (taught in the combination, see Underhill, fig 64).
“In one embodiment of the invention the severance mechanism comprises: a generally circular severance frame having an opening therethrough for the passage of the axially extending round bale protruding therethrough from said cylindrical bale-forming chamber, a slide collar forming part of said severance frame being positioned for the passage of said inner telescoping member therethrough; a latch mechanism connecting said slide collar to said fixed outer member of the telescoping beam so that any extension of said inner telescoping member corresponding to the growth of said axially extending round bale from said cylindrical bale-forming chamber slides through the slide collar until the latch mechanism is released; an actuator connected to said inner telescoping member and sliding through said severance frame while said latch mechanism retains said slide collar against said fixed outer member of the telescoping beam, said actuator including a trip member that engages said latch mechanism to release said severance frame from said fixed outer member of the telescoping beam when a predetermined length of said inner telescoping member has extended from said fixed outer member; and the at least one knife is engageable with said axially extending round bale when said latch mechanism is released to sever a selected length of said axially extending round bale for discharge therefrom.” (Underhill)
13. The cotton harvester of claim 10 wherein the severance mechanism is latched relative to the telescoping tailgate in response to the round bale cylinder protruding from the cylindrical bale chamber being of length substantially equal to the selected length of the round bale to move synchronously with the tailgate during severing of the round bale cylinder (taught in the combination, see Underhill quote above).
14. The cotton harvester of claim 1 further comprising a cotton picker/stripper supported from a forward position on said frame to harvest cotton bolls from standing cotton plants, said conduit delivering said cotton bolls from said cotton picker/stripper to said continuous round baler (taught in the combination, see Mate, fig 2, par 18).
“As the forming bale protrudes into the cylindrical bale-forming chamber 28, the net wrapping material is fed between cylindrical rolls 29 on the right clamshell 44 along the upper portion of the cylindrical rolls to engage the surface of the forming bale and keep the netting material on the outside surface. The netting material has to be applied to the outside surface of the bale after and downstream of the location at which the layer(s) of crop material have been applied by the rearward conical portion 25c of the feed roll 25 in the cylindrical bale-forming chamber. The rotation of the round bale pulls the netting material along, pulling it from the supply of netting material such as from a roll of netting material A mounted outside of the cylindrical bale-forming chamber 28. The netting material is applied continuously as the forming bale is rotated so that the protrusion of the formed bale out of the cylindrical bale-forming chamber 28 is a completed round bale ready to be severed when sufficient length has protruded.”
16. The cotton harvester of claim 2 further comprising a wrapping system positioned at a rearward portion of said cylindrical bale chamber to place a wrapping material on an outer circumferential surface of said round bale cylinder (taught in the combination, Underhill, see quote above).
17. The cotton harvester of claim 16 wherein said wrapping system applies a wrapping material that presents a non-tacky surface against said outer circumferential surface of said round bale cylinder and a tacky surface facing outwardly from said round bale cylinder so that progressive overlapping turns of said wrapping material stick together as the wrapping material is applied to the continuously protruding round bale cylinder (the net wrapping taught above in re cl. 16, is obvious to be non-tacky).
The following are already addressed above, unless otherwise noted:
18. A combination cotton harvester and round baler for harvesting cotton bolls from standing cotton plants and forming round bales of cotton bolls, comprising: a frame supporting a cotton picker/stripper for removing cotton bolls from standing cotton plants; a conduit operatively interconnecting said picker/stripper and being co-operable with a fan to provide an air flow through said conduit to convey harvested cotton bolls rearwardly from said picker/stripper; and a continuous round baler supported on said frame and operable to receive harvested cotton bolls from said conduit and to continuously form a round bale cylinder protruding rearwardly from said round baler, said continuous round baler including a severance mechanism to sever a round bale of selected length from said protruding round bale cylinder for discharge to the ground, said continuous round baler also including a conical bale chamber formed by a plurality of conical bale rotating rolls terminating at a cylindrical bale chamber to form said round bale cylinder axially protruding rearwardly from said cylindrical bale chamber (see in re cl. 1, 2).
“The rear bale support member 35 engages the distal end of the round bale being formed in the cylindrical bale-forming chamber 28 to both support the end of the round bale is the bale protrudes from the cylindrical baleforming chamber 28, and control density of the forming round bale.” (Underhill)
19. The combination cotton harvester and round baler of claim 18 wherein said continuous round baler includes a tailgate engaged with a rearward end of said round bale cylinder protruding rearwardly, said tailgate helping to control density in said round bale cylinder (see cl. 10-13, see teaching above).
20. The combination cotton harvester and round baler of claim 19 wherein each said conical bale rotating roll includes a taper having a predetermined slope value, said predetermined slope value and said tailgate controlling density of said round bale cylinder (taught in the combination, obvious use of the conical taper shown in Underhill).
The following method steps are already addressed in re the apparatus above, unless otherwise noted:
21. A method for harvesting cotton bolls from standing cotton plants, the method comprising: conveying cotton bolls harvested from the standing plants through a rearwardly extending conduit in an air flow through the conduit to a continuous round baler, continuously forming a round bale cylinder in the continuous round baler and protruding the round bale cylinder rearwardly from the continuous round baler, and severing a round bale of selected length from the protruding round bale cylinder (cl. 1).
22. The method of claim 21 wherein the continuous round baler comprises a conical bale chamber and a rearwardly adjacent cylindrical bale chamber communicating with the conical bale chamber, and the method further comprises conveying the cotton bolls into the conical bale chamber, and forming a conical bale of the cotton bolls in the conical bale chamber, and protruding the conical bale into the cylindrical bale chamber to form a round bale cylinder (cl. 2, 6).
23. The method of claim 22 wherein cotton bolls are delivered into the cylindrical bale chamber towards a forward end thereof to form a laminar layer extending circumferentially around the round bale cylinder in the cylindrical bale chamber (cl. 8).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 6, 15 is/are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form 892.
Underhill (2016/089546) also teaches a baler comprises a conical bale chamber and a cylindrical bale chamber (fig 17).
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/ARPAD FABIAN-KOVACS/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
