Appeal No. 1998-1052
Application No. 08/683,600
been obvious “to supply the dryer of
Anderson with a support plate on the back side of the
substrate to support the substrate as taught by Bubley et al.”
While we appreciate that the extractor head 80 and conveyor
belt 30 of Bubley act to support articles being cured, we do
not agree with the examiner’s conclusion that these teachings
would have suggested the provision of a support plate in
Anderson. First, the top surface 82 of Bubley’s extractor
head comprises a porous surface like, for example, Bubley’s
baffle means 64 (column 4, lines 6-16). This construction, in
our view, cannot reasonably be considered a support “plate”
based on any appropriate definition of the word “plate” of
which we are aware. Similarly, Bubley’s endless porous5
conveyor belt 30 cannot reasonably be considered a support
“plate” as that word is used by appellants. Accordingly,
appellants’ argument (brief, page 9) to the effect that
5We note, for example, that the word “plate” may mean “[a]
flat, smooth, relatively thin, rigid body of uniform
thickness” or “[a] flat piece of metal forming a machine
part.” Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary,
copyright © 1984 Houghton Mifflin Company.
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