CONTEST
Competed
$5,000
This contest is closed.
m6i2m7i9k20 P
technologyYogesh Bansal
technologyTakaaki Furuyama
technologyNEHA JAI
technologyArpit Jain
technologyKing King
technologyRakon Nahar
technologyJohn Blaeuer
technologyProblem
Update: we have extended the deadline as the contest was over early and some users were not able to upload their research. So the final deadline is until the next Sunday.
This contest is for a prior art search for two US Patents RE45145 and RE48600, which describe a wing pulley for a conveyor belt.
The pulley is made up of two spaced cylindrical hubs with a number of wings extending radially from the hubs. The wings are generally oriented in V-shapes, and the convergence point of the V shapes generally corresponds to the direction of the pulley’s rotation.
The pulley’s V-shaped wing configuration is intended to laterally deflect debris (like sand and gravel) away from the pulley and its conveyor belt as the pulley spins.
When viewing the pulley’s hub straight-on, each wing connected to the hub is angled forward of a radius of the hub (see angle “C” below in relation to radius “B”) in the direction of the pulley’s rotation (see arrow “D” below).
Questions
| # | Question | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is the reference either a U.S. Patent filed, a foreign patent published, or a non-patent document published or otherwise publicly available before October 31, 2007? | T/F |
| 2 | Does the reference show a pulley for a conveyor belt with two spaced hubs aligned along a common axis, each with a circumferential surface? | 10 |
| 3 | Are there a number of radially spaced wings oriented around the pulley? | 10 |
| 4 | Are the spaces between adjacent wings unobstructed at the first and second ends of the pulley? | 10 |
| 5 | Does the rotation of the pulley result in material in the space between adjacent wings being ejected out of the first and second ends of the pulley? | 15 |
| 6 | Are the wings V-shaped or otherwise angled at a non-zero angle? | 25 |
| 7 | Does each outer end of the wings have a lower edge positioned on a respective radial of the hub, and an upper edge angled forward of the respective radial in the intended direction of rotation of the pulley? | 30 |
Additional Notes
Prior Art Search
This is a Prior Art Search contest aimed at determining if a patent idea was known and publicly available before a patent was filed.
- +5 bonus points will be awarded for non-patent literature such as user's manual or peer-reviewed papers
- +5 bonus points will be awarded for foreign language references.
This contest will close on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 11:59 PM PT.
Please review the Contest Rules. For more information on how to submit to this Contest type, please read the Intro to Prior Art Search page.
