Appeal No. 1999-0231
Application No. 08/472,354
the external diameter of the tube 10 so that the sleeve can
easily slip over the tube. In this embodiment, the sleeve
grips the
tube by a vacuum applied from inside the tube 10. The vacuum
is directed to the underside of the sleeve 17 by virtue of
circumferential grooves 26 (arranged like grooves 10b in FIG.
1) each connected to the inside of the tube 10 by a single
hole 27. See col. 4, ll. 25-42.
The examiner relies on Arkell, Tittgemeyer, Vrotacoe and
Fischer as teaching examples of conventional offset printing
apparatus including a blanket cylinder and a printing blanket.
See answer, p. 4. The examiner also relies on Arkell as
teaching a blanket cylinder formed with means (i.e., grooves
22 (Fig. 2)) extending substantially across a length of the
blanket cylinder for connecting an interface of the blanket
cylinder and the printing blanket to a low pressure region,
i.e., a vacuum source. Id. It is the examiner’s position
that
10
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