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 Objections
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 6 should depend from claim 2 in order to provide proper antecedent basis the “the across-ribbon adjustment mechanism”. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 13, 17 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reznik et al. (SU 558,006) in view of Hashimoto et al. (US 7,971,878).
Reznik et al. show a nip roller system for a glass ribbon having a nip roller 5 which applies an adjustable downward force to the glass ribbon as it travels between the nip roller 5 and an opposing roller 4. Not shown are the rollers arranged in a 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock position. However, shown by Hashimoto et al. are rollers 1a and 1b being arranged in just such a position with one of the rollers being for applying an adjustable pressure. To merely slightly change the orientation of the rollers 4 and 5 would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as they would still perform their intended function in the exact same manner. The mere slight adjustment of the rollers would be well within the skill of the art.
Re claim 13, the nip roller 5 contacts a central portion of the glass ribbon.
Re claim 17, the glass ribbon is driven by a drive roller.
Re claim 18, the shown spring for the nip roller 5 adjusts the position of the nip roller while it is in contact with the glass ribbon.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-12, 19 and 20 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.
Claims 14-16 are allowed.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R BIDWELL whose telephone number is (571)272-6910. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 to 4.
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/JAMES R BIDWELL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651 09/02/2026
