Appeal No. 97-4049
Application 08/456,802
Application Manual, and claim 10 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Ohlbach in view of Holley, the Electronic Circuit Part Application Manual
and Bradford.
Reference is made to the appellants’ main and reply briefs (Paper Nos. 15 and 17)
and to the examiner’s answer (Paper No. 16) for the respective positions of the appellants
and the examiner with regard to the merits of these rejections.
Ohlbach, the examiner’s primary reference, discloses a shipping/storage carton
which is designed to protect electronic devices such as printed circuit boards from the
deleterious effects of static electricity. To this end, the carton consists of paper board
coated on its inside surfaces with conductive carbon black particles which prevent outside
static electricity charges from passing through the carton. As described by Ohlbach,
[t]he carton blank shown in FIG. 4 is for illustrative purposes but also
shows that the carton blank, from which the carton is to be erected, may have
a pair of side panels 44, a pair of end panels 46 joined by score lines to the
side panels, a pair of end flaps 48 joined by score lines to each of the end
panels, and a pair of side flaps 50 joined by score lines to each of the side
panels. . . . A joint tab 52 for a glued joint may be attached by a score line to
an end panel.
The blank shown in FIG. 4 enables a six-sided carton to be erected
and closed with all inside surfaces opposite outside surfaces presenting the
desired carbon black circumvallate such that a printed circuit board inserted
into the carton cavity before closure is within the carbon black circumvallate
and any discharge of static electricity outside the container, even if it
penetrates the thickness of the paper board, will be trapped by an inside
carbon black circumvallate coating on one of the panels or flaps and will
circulate endlessly thereabout, until finally bled off or dissipated.
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