PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16065196
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-06
Publication Date: 2019-01
Patent Classification: ["414", "792700"]

Abstract:
A glove stacking apparatus forming a stack of folded gloves has a supporting surface for supporting the stack as folded gloves are added to the stack along a stacking axis. First and second flaps are pivotable about first and second pivot axes on opposite first and second sides of a glove stacking area. The supporting surface is relatively movable as folded gloves are added to the stack. A cyclic flap actuation system is configured to drive a folding action of each flap in which the flaps alternately pivot about the corresponding pivot axis so that each flap folds a first portion of a deposited glove overlapping a flap towards a second portion of the glove at the glove stacking area; the folding action alternating as gloves are added to the stack. Each flap in addition to being pivotable is also laterally movable both towards and away from the stacking area.

Claim (Index 29):
A method of forming a stack of folded gloves using a glove stacking apparatus for forming a stack of folded gloves, the apparatus comprising: a supporting surface for supporting said stack as folded gloves are added to the stack along a stacking axis; a first flap pivotable about a first pivot axis and a second flap pivotable about a second pivot axis, said axes also being laterally movable with respect to a glove stacking area within which gloves folded by said flaps are, in use, added to said stack, said first and second axes being disposed on corresponding opposite first and second sides of a glove stacking area and the flap comprising a plurality of fingers; a cyclic flap actuation system configured to drive a folding action of each flap in which said flaps alternately pivot about the corresponding pivot axis; and a first supporting platform and a second supporting platform, said first and second platforms being disposed, respectively on said opposite first and second sides of the glove stacking area, the first supporting platform be configured to be used in conjunction with the first flap and the second supporting platform being configured to be used in conjunction with the second flap, each supporting platform having a plurality of slots therein, wherein the method comprises:\n depositing a sequence of gloves to be folded into a stack by said apparatus, each glove having a first portion and a second portion, one of said portions being a finger portion and the other of said portions being a cuff portion, the first portion of each glove being deposited, alternately, at one or the other of said platforms and the second portion of each glove being deposited at the glove stacking area; when a glove is deposited with the first portion at the first platform, using the first platform to support said glove and using the flap actuation system to pivot the fingers of the first flap about the first pivot axis in a folding action of said flap to lift said first portion off the first platform and to fold said first portion towards the glove stacking area until the fingers of the first flap extend over the glove stacking area, said folded glove thereby being added at the top of the stack of folded gloves; when a glove is deposited with the first portion at the second platform, using the second platform to support said glove and using the flap actuation system to pivot the fingers of the second flap about the second pivot axis in a folding action of said flap to lift said first portion off the second platform and fold said first portion towards the glove stacking area until the fingers of the second flap extend over the glove stacking area, said folded glove thereby being added at the top of the stack of folded gloves; as said alternately folded gloves are added to the stack of folded gloves, using the supporting surface to support said stack whilst relatively moving the supporting surface away from the glove stacking area so that the top of said stack remains substantially level with said pivot axes so that said flaps may continue to alternately fold and add to said stack subsequently deposited gloves; after each folding action using the flap actuation system to drive a withdrawing action of the corresponding flap in which said fingers are laterally withdrawn towards a side of the glove stacking area, said fingers thereby being withdrawn from said stack; after each withdrawing action, using said flap actuation system to pivot and laterally move said flap in a returning action of the corresponding flap to return said flap to a position ready for a subsequent folding action; and either during the folding action or during the returning action of each flap, passing the fingers of said flap through the slots in the corresponding supporting platform.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 6.0
- Percentile: 94.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.22857
- Patent Class: 414.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: True
- Related Applications: ['15073902', '13503080', '13503062', '13060146', '11469542']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8781548937321526
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5566044550327613
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8459998498622134
- Mean Citation Score: 384.060394
- Max Citation Score: 458.47708
- Similarity Product: 392.6549166178083

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 0
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test