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PATENT AGENT EXAMINATION

PAPER A

2012

Dear Candidate,

Paper A is a patent drafting exercise in which the candidate is requested to

prepare a full patent specification, with significant weight (60%) given to the

claims.

A hypothetical inventor has provided a description of the technology as the

inventor understands it. A search has been provided to assist the candidate in

evaluating the actual scope of the inventor’s invention. You will assume the

search is the most relevant of the prior art and you are cautioned not to impart

your own knowledge into your analysis and preparation of the patent application.

The inventor has provided the attached materials describing a peat harvesting

apparatus. A search has revealed three pertinent references, namely: US Patent

X,XXX,001, US Patent X,XXX,002, and a short article published in a well known

agricultural magazine.

On the basis of the client's letter, drawings, and the known prior art, prepare a

patent application. As is evident from the mark breakdown below, preparation of

formal portions of the application such as a petition is not required. The order of

the different sections is also not important for Exam purposes, yet the candidate

must provide titles for each section in order to assist correction.

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Claims (60 marks)

The Candidate is required to submit a first independent claim (22 marks) of the

method type having 4 dependent method claims (8 marks, 2 marks each) and a

second independent claim (22 marks) of the apparatus type having 4 dependent

apparatus claims (8 marks, 2 marks each).

Description of the Embodiments (22 marks)

While clever, the inventor is unlikely to have provided language, structure and

organization appropriate for a patent application. Accordingly, full marks for the

description will not be awarded if the Candidate merely copies the inventor’s text

and, historically, lower marks have been awarded for exclusively cutting and

pasting portions from the examination itself. The description should not simply

consist of an enumeration of the elements on each figure. The description must

address with more details the point(s) of invention including the subject matter

recited in the dependent claims. Alternative embodiments should also be

discussed.

Drawings

The Candidate has been provided with duplicate unmarked copies of the

drawings for their use.

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MARK BREAKDOWN

Abstract 2.5 One (1) Independent Method Claim

22

Title 1 Four (4) Dependent Method Claims (2 marks each)

8

Field of the Invention 1 One (1) Independent Apparatus Claim

22

Background of the Invention 9 Four (4) Dependent Method Claims (2 marks each)

8

Summary of the Invention

2.5

Description of the Drawings

2

Description of the Embodiments (marks are allotted for proper reference to the drawings)

22

Subtotal 40 Subtotal 60

TOTAL 100

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PAPER A - 2012

To: Patent Agent

From: Abe Bogg

I’ve been harvesting peat for 30 years and I’m always looking for ways to

improve my harvests. The bogs I harvest are quite large, so I prefer to use heavy

duty suction-based harvesters, you know, the ones that have multiple suction

heads spread wide on either side and in front of my harvesting machine

(basically a tractor pulling a collection tank on wheels with a tow bar, with the

suction head assemblies spread in front of the tractor and on either side of the

tank on respective wheeled support frames that get towed along with the tank –

see Drawing A). Each suction head feeds into the tank, to which it is

interconnected by a duct works. A fan mounted on the chassis of the collection

tank is powered by a driving shaft connected to the power take off of the tractor’s

motor (not shown). The inlet of the fan is connected to an outlet of the collection

tank by an exhaust duct, and the outlet of the fan simply blows air outside. That

way, the suction produced by the fan draws peat from the ground through the

multiple suction heads as the machine advances through the bog.

Until recently, I had to adjust the speed of my tractor and the suction of the heads

(i.e. fan speed) based on the conditions of the peat, the type of peat I was

harvesting, the weather, etc., like farmers have been doing for years, to make

sure we don’t over or under harvest. That works fine for smaller machines, but

with wider harvesters, particularly when the contour of the bog is uneven, you

can’t really have optimal conditions across all the suction heads. Even with

smaller machines, I’ve tried adjusting the optimum peat collecting height

manually while driving the tractor, but either the inlet ends up getting blocked or I

break the suction head by striking it on the ground. You just can’t get a good

enough sense of the contour when you are sitting up in the tractor.

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So I came up with a solution and tried it out last month on my farm, and everyone

there thought it was a great idea. I came up with a pretty simple sensing

assembly that I can drag along the surface of the bog from the bottom of each

suction head for sensing changes in the contour of the peat to be harvested. For

each suction head, I welded a bunch of longitudinally spaced-apart curved rigid

sensing bars or fingers to extend down from a shaft that runs along the front and

bottom of the suction head (see Drawing C). I also welded a metal plate to a

collar that I secured to the shaft such that it points pretty much upwards between

a pair of metal sensors that are mounted inside the suction head (I picked them

up at the hardware store – when a piece of metal passes by, the electromagnetic

field changes around the sensor and the sensor outputs an electric signal). You

can see them in my drawing B marked as “up sensor” and “down sensor”. Note

that when I had tried it out on my farm, I had used optical sensors like the ones

you use for safety on garage doors, but these got dirty and tended not to perform

as well as the electromagnetic ones.

As the back of the rigid fingers drag on the surface of the peat to be harvested,

when they come across a dip, the fingers roll out and rotate the shaft, which

moves the metal plate toward the down sensor that outputs a signal indicating

that the suction head is approaching a dip and that it should be brought down.

When the fingers roll up a bump, they curl up, the shaft is rotated in the opposite

direction and the metal plate activates the up sensor indicating that the suction

head should be brought up. Then all I had to do was use the sensors to control a

vertical actuator that can adjust the vertical height of my suction heads, and thus

the inlet, up and down based on which sensor is sending a signal, and which

maintains the inlet at the optimum height. You can see an example of the

hydraulic piston actuators I used in drawing D.

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You can see on my drawings D and E (E is from the side of D as shown) how

each suction head is mounted to a wheeled mobile frame through a vertical

actuator. In this particular design, I used a separate piston-actuated structure for

each suction head; that way, each suction head can move vertically relative to

the frame. You can see how the wheels that are mounted on the actuated

structure engage and cooperate with the vertical channel fixed on the frame to

move the suction head up and down upon actuation of the piston.

When the sensor fingers at the front of one of the suction heads senses a drop,

the corresponding signal is sent to this suction head’s actuator to drop the head,

and vice-versa when the sensor fingers sense a rise in the bog contour. That

way, each suction head is pretty much kept at the same optimal distance above

the bog regardless of the bog contour. I could never do that manually for each

head at once! Even for a single suction head, it beats having to do it manually.

I have included a supporting schematic like sketch to help explain operation of

my peat harvester. Sorry about the coffee stains, but its a rough sketch and I

don't think you want to use it in the application anyways, better just to explain

what it shows using the other drawings A-E.

It works pretty well. I can even sample the bog conditions (wet vs dry), take into

account the type of peat being harvested, the speed at which I can safely drive

my machine and the suction speed of the fan, and set the optimal height of my

suction heads accordingly at the onset – the automated height adjuster takes

care of the rest. Of course, Phragmites, Fibric, Hemic and Sapric peats are of

decreasing density, so I run my optimal height at 5, 8, 10 and 15 centimetres for

each of these species, respectively. I also adjust the height based on a moisture

content of the peat: down 25% in dry conditions to draw a thicker layer, and up

25% in wet conditions to draw a thinner layer.

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You can move the sensing fingers forward, up and down by adjusting the length

of the longitudinal and vertical adjustment bars that ultimately couple the

respective sensor shafts to each of the suction heads (see drawing D). That way,

you can set the optimal height of the suction heads before you start, and moving

the sensing bars forward can give you another means for optimizing how precise

your suction head adjustments are relative to your driving speed. Another way to

adjust the optimal height is to rotate the metal bar and collar on the shaft relative

to the sensing bars. There’s probably twelve different ways of doing this.

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US PATENT No. X,XXX,001 April 14, 1980

MEANS FOR PNEUMATIC GATHERING OF MILLED PEAT

Pete Hoover

The present invention concerns a means for pneumatic gathering of peat,

consisting of a carriage moving on the bog and comprising a blower or equivalent

member for producing suction, a conduit for sucking up peat from the surface of

the bog, a separator for separating the peat from the suction air, and a receptacle

wherein the peat gathers.

The quality of the peat being gathered can be influenced by adjusting the driving

speed or suction, as wet peat particles can be left on the surface of the bog when

suction is lowered or driving speed increased to gather only the desirable dried

layer of peat.

Hereby, it is possible to moll and gather thick layers during favourable drying

periods and when rainy weather is impending, to draw only a thin, dried layer

from the surface of the bog. Using this method, annual overall yields can be

increased by as much as 15 to 40%.

The invention is described with reference to the following Figures, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation view of a means for gathering milled peat, in

accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the means of Figure 1, taken along line Il-Il thereof.

The means depicted in the drawings and intended for pneumatic gathering of

peat consists of a gatherer carriage 2 provided with wheels 1 and which may be

attached e.g. to a tractor (not shown). The carriage 2 generally comprises a

blower 3, suction tubes 5 provided with suction heads 4, and a receptacle 6. The

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section tubes 5 terminate in the upper part of the receptacle 6. The receptacle is

divided with the aid of a flap 8 hinged on its top end into a larger part 9 and a

smaller part 10. A cyclone 11 located above the smaller part 10 of the receptacle

and communicating with each part 9 and 10 of the receptacle is connected to the

blower 3 via tube 12.

The gatherer carriage 2 is used to collect the dried peat layer 13 from the surface

14 of the bog. The gathering takes place while the carriage 2 is moving and the

suction heads 4 are drawing peat 13 by action of the suction produced by the

blower 3. The two suction heads 4 are staggered and oriented such that

respective inlets thereof face rearwardly relative to the general advancing motion

of the carriage, though other configurations are possible including forwardly or

downwardly facing inlets, side-by-side suction heads, and different suction head

combinations located in different locations around the carriage 2.

In operation, the peat is drawn by the suction tubes 5 into the upper part of the

part 9 of the receptacle 6, wherefrom the course peat particles descend onto the

bottom of the receptacle under gravity effect. In contrast, the suction air and the

more finely divided peat particles move as indicated by the arrow 15 in Fig. 1, to

the cyclone 11 where separation of the finely divided particles takes place by the

centrifugal force effect. Hereby, the said particles gather, as shown by the arrows

16, in the part 10 of the receptacle, the suction air proceeding, as shown by the

arrows 17, into the tube 12 departing from the cyclone 11, and thence further

through the blower 3 into open air.

During peat gathering, the flap 8 is in the position in which it constitutes an

airtight partition between the parts 9 and 10 of the receptacle. When the carriage

2 is dumped for emptying from the receptacle the peat collected therein, the flap

carried by the hinges 7 turns under gravity effect into the position 8' indicated by

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interrupted lines in Fig. 1, whereby the peat is enabled to flow out from both parts

of the receptacle. When the carriage 2 after being emptied is lowered down to its

normal horizontal position, the flap returns to its initial position.

As noted above, the amount of suction generated through suction head 4 can be

adjusted upon adjusting blower speed, for example, as can the driving speed, to

accommodate different harvesting conditions (e.g. wet vs. dry), improving overall

annual yields.

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US PATENT No. X,XXX,002 July 31, 1975

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HARVESTING PRODUCE SUCH AS

TOMATOES

Red Orbgardener Jr.

The present invention relates to a method and machinery for harvesting of vegetables

or fruits growing on low plants such as tomatoes, and particularly to such plants grown

on plastic mulch covered beds.

Mechanical harvesters are available that cut vines free from their roots and transport

the cut plants and its fruit to processing equipment which removes the tomatoes from

the vines, separates the tomatoes from the foliage and dirt, and sorts the tomatoes as

to size and quality.

Typical prior art mechanical harvesters are characterized by cutters that operate at or

just below the surface of the soil. Problems encountered with cutters operating in this

way include: picking up of soil along with the tomato plants; damage to the tomatoes

from soil and rocks; and damage to the tomatoes in the separation of soil and rocks. In

addition, soil is quite abrasive, wearing out moving parts and causing costly

maintenance.

With the bush type planting style, tomatoes are grown without stakes and supporting

lines and the foliage grows in a matted fashion with the lower fruit weighting the matted

vines to lie on the surface of the soil bed. The lower hanging fruit is subject to damage

by the mechanical harvester, even with the cutters operating below the bed surface.

Recently, the technique of growing tomatoes and other plants on plastic mulch covered

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beds has been developed. This has proven to have many advantages including

cleanliness of the fruit and good control of weeds, increase in harvesting efficiency. It

is also common to include drip irrigation tubing along the bed underneath the plastic

mulch for watering and fertilizing of the bed.

Available mechanical harvesters have proven unsatisfactory for operation over plastic

mulch beds. The plastic film becomes torn and shredded, causing clogging of conveyor

belts, separators, and other moving parts of the machinery, and the irrigation tubing is

usually damaged.

The invention is a novel harvester head end and method of harvesting for tomato

plants and like produce that is particularly suited for use over plastic mulch covered

beds. The harvester head or front end comprises a novel reciprocating sickle cutter

operated and maintained less than 3/4 of an inch (2 cm) above the surface of the

plastic, means for lifting the lower portions of the plants to permit the cutter to sever the

plant stems without damaging the lower hanging fruit, and a short conveyor for carrying

the plants rearwardly from the cutter. The apparatus is carried in a framework chassis

supported by a pair of gage wheels that ride in the furrows between the beds. Thus,

the head end of the invention cuts and picks up the plants without damage to the beds,

and delivers the cut plants to the prior art conveyor. The plants are then conventionally

processed in the field by the appropriate functions of the prior art machine.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be noted by a reading of

the following detailed description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the invention showing the operation thereof;

FIG. 2 is a partial cutaway top view of the invention;

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FIG. 3 is a right-side view of the invention supported on a chassis; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the electro-hydraulic cutter height control system of

the preferred embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a typical seed bed 1 for tomato plants and the like is shown in

cross section covered with a plastic mulch 3. Growing through perforations in the

plastic mulch 3 are tomato plants 4 with one such plant 4a shown just prior to cutting of

its stem. The elements of the invention shown are moving over the bed 1 in the

direction of the open face arrow. Four major elements of the apparatus are

schematically illustrated: cutter assembly 10 for cutting the stems of the tomato plants

4; lifter and conveyor 20 for lifting pendant lower portions of plants 4 and conveying cut

plants 6 rearwardly; reel 40 for urging cut plants onto conveyor 20; and height sensing

assembly 30 used as part of a system to maintain cutter assembly 10 a selected

distance above the surface of plastic mulch 3.

Tomato plants, such as plants 4, are planted in rows along the center line of bed 1 and

spaced about one foot apart. Cutter assembly 10 is thus arranged to move

longitudinally along the center line of bed 1 as best seen in the top view of FIG. 2.

Cutter assembly 10 includes a fixed upper blade having a set of V-shaped teeth 17,

and a matching lower reciprocating blade having a matching set of V-shaped teeth 19

such that a plant stem contacted by cutter 10 is quickly and cleanly severed by the

blades.

Lifter/conveyor 20 utilizes a pair of endless flat belts 22 having a set of rubber covered

fingers 24 projecting from their surfaces. As the apparatus moves forward, the fingers

24 on belts 22, which are rotating clockwise as viewed in FIG. 1, contact and lift the

branches, leaves, and fruit of the plant being approached. As the harvester continues

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to move forward, plant 4a is carried higher and rearward by belts 22 as indicated by

arrow A. Cutter assembly 10 then contacts the plant stem a short distance above

mulch 3 and cleanly cuts the stem. The cut plant, as illustrated by plants 6, is then

carried by belts 22 and belt 29 in an upward and rearward direction due to the inclined

disposition of conveyor assembly 20 as shown in FIG. 1. Plants 6 are then dumped to

the rear of the harvester to be redeposited on the bed surface as shown by arrow B.

The redeposited plants 8 are left in the field for a brief period to allow the plants to wilt,

making later separation of tomatoes from the plants much easier to accomplish.

It is important that cutter assembly 10 be an optimum distance above the surface of

bed 1 and plastic mulch 3. If too low, cutter blades 17, 19 can contact plastic mulch 3,

cutting and tearing the plastic film. If too high, the cutter assembly 10 can contact plant

limbs and fruit with consequent damage thereto. It has been found for tomato plants

that a height of about 3/4 inch is effective. Due to the irregularities of produce beds, an

automatic height adjustment system has been found highly desirable to maintain the

selected height, and greatly reduces or eliminates both produce and mulch damages.

Accordingly, a height sensing assembly 30 is utilized to control a height adjustment

apparatus to be described below. Cutter assembly 10 is supported by brackets 15

attached to transverse frame member 11 which also supports height sensor mounting

plate 31. A skid 32 is pivoted to plate 31 and arranged to slide along plastic mulch 3

and bed 1 as the harvester moves forward. An upward extending arm 38 is formed to

operate microswitches 36 and 37, as shown in FIG.4. When the cutter height is correct,

arm 38 is essentially centered and neither switch is closed. If the cutter height is too

low, upper switch 36 will be closed, and, if too high, lower switch 37 will be closed.

Operation of switches 36 and 37 causes frame member 11 to be raised or lowered by a

hydraulic actuator 84. Actuator 84 is attached to tube 85 with its actuating rod attached

to post 83 whereby operation of actuator 84 will raise or lower the frame 100 by

telescoping action of tube 85 and post 83. Spring 34 maintains a strong downward

bias on skid 32 sufficient to crush loose tomatoes or plant parts that could otherwise

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produce a false height indication. Thus, if furrow 7 rises, the cutter assembly 10 will be

caused to lift too high from the bed surface, and contact 37 will close as the skid 32

drops. Contact 37 operates solenoid 92 with the battery of the towing tractor furnishing

the necessary electrical power. Solenoid in turn actuates valve 90 to apply hydraulic

pressure to actuator 84 to cause tub 85 to lower with respect to wheel 82 until skid 32

opens contact 37 returning the valve 90 to neutral. The reverse is done if the furrow

drops.

The operative parts of the invention may be supported on a frame or chassis 100. As

seen in FIG. 3, the chassis can be pulled by a tractor utilizing yoke assembly 80

attached to the front of member 74. Square steel tubes 85, also attached to the front of

member 74, support gage wheel posts 83 which slide within tubes 85. Posts 83 are

attached to a pair of gage wheels 82 that ride in the furrows between beds while the

harvester is in operation. The height of the chassis 100 above a plant bed is adjusted

by sliding of posts 83 in tubes 85 utilizing hydraulic power to be described herein

below. Rearward extending side members 73 support rear vertical members 72 and

rear cross member 11. Two cantilevered arms 77 also project rearward from front cross

member 74.

FIG.3 shows rearward-extending member 73 cut away to reveal cantilevered arm 77

with conveyor assembly 20 supported therefrom by vertical support post 76. Post 76 is

formed by two telescoping structural forms to permit a vertical adjustment on initial

assembly. Conveyor 20 is attached to posts 76 by end pieces 75 and angle plates 51

which pivot about the lower ends of posts 76, permitting the adjustment of the angle of

conveyor belts 22 and 29 with respect to the beds. A hydraulic motor 39 serves to drive

rear roller 27 which powers belts 22 and 29. Yoke 80 is attached to front cross member

74 for coupling to a tractor with three point hitch 90. Also shown in FIG. 3 is hydraulic

actuator 84 connected to wheel tube 85 and wheel post 83. Hydraulic fluid and

pressure is supplied to the harvester from the towing tractor hydraulic system for the

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operation of actuators 84 and the hydraulic motors such as motor 39. The harvester

assembly is moved by the tractor in the direction of the open faced arrow with height

sensing skid 32 moving along the raised bed 1 over plastic mulch 3 with gage wheels

82 riding on the surfaces of furrows 7 shown in cross section.

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Reference 3

Peat Carvers and Cutters Weekly

August 6, 1968 edition

A new peat moss harvester to solve all your peat strata problems!

From our field correspondent, Harvey Ester

A revolutionary new machine is now available, which dramatically improves peat

harvesters’ ability to loosen and separate peat from a strata of relatively dense

peat and then collects the loosened peat, all in one simple operation.

In the diagram below, the machine has a blower 17 mounted on a wheeled frame

13. The blower 17 supplies air to a duct 19 that is connected to a wide mouthed

jet 21 An air stream, shown by arrows 27, is directed onto the dry, milled peat 29

that is partially enclosed in a collection head 31 as the machine rolls over the

peat. Air from the jet 21 loosens the upper strata of dried, milled peat 29 from

the lower strata of wet or damp peat 33. The air from the jet 21 not only loosens

and separates the dry peat from the wet peat, but also the stream deflecting off

the wet peat directs the loosened dry peat up and over a deflector 37 having an

edge that is contiguous with the surface of the uncollected dry peat. The air

velocity at the jet is controlled by a bleed off duct 23 and a damper 25. The

loosened dry peat is entrained into a second air stream (shown by arrows 41) at

the throat 43 of the collector head 31.The throat 43 communicates with a vacuum

collection passage 45 that leads to a collection bin 47. When the air and peat 35

enters the bin 47, the velocity of the second air stream drops and the dry peat

falls into the bin 47. If needed, separate blowers can be used for controlling or

adjusting the velocity of the air streams. A damper 53 in a duct 49 controls and

adjusts the velocity of the second air stream. An access door 55 is available to

aid removal of the collected peat 35.

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The new machine now solves the problem of wet peat being picked up with the

dry peat; a problem which has plagued conventional vacuum pick up models in

the past. Also, where vacuum pick up models only seem to work well on smooth

terrain, the new machine works well on almost any type of terrain, rough or

smooth.

The new machine guarantees a lifetime of unhindered peat harvesting, even in

the most dense peat strata.