Appeal No. 97-4184
Application No. 08/521,256
This is an appeal from the decision of the examiner
finally rejecting claims 1-5 and 21-23, which constitute all
of the claims remaining of record in the application.
The appellant's invention is directed to a fastening
system.
The subject matter before us on appeal is illustrated by
reference to claim 1, which reads as follows:
1. A fastening system releasably attachable to and in
combination with a complementary receiving surface, said
fastening system comprising a bilaterally staggered array of
free formed prongs joined at a base to an elastically
extensible substrate prestrained to thereby increase the
density of said prongs, said prongs extending outwardly from
said substrate along a shank to an engaging means, said pre-
strained substrate comprising a generally planar sheet of
material and having a relaxation-extension area ratio in one
direction of at least about 6.0, a five second recovery of at
least 50%, and a spring rate of less than 500 grams per inch
of width, whereby said prongs and said pre-strained substrate
apply a preload when attached to said complementary receiving
surface.
THE REFERENCES
The references relied upon by the examiner to support the
final rejection are:
Aeschbach et al. (Aeschbach) 4,628,709 Dec.
16, 1986
Noel et al. (Noel) 5,032,122 Jul. 16,
1991
2
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