Appeal No. 1999-2329
Application 08/642,278
which are grouped therewith (brief, page 9).
Rejection (2)
Claim 10 reads:
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the tubing has
been heat set to maintain the oriented diameter during the use
of the tubing.
The examiner does not point to a specific disclosure in
Fanselow of heat setting the oriented tubing, but takes the
position at pages 2 and 3 of the answer that:
It is inherent that after the tube is oriented, it
will be heat set in order to maintain its new diameter
during the use of the tubing. Claim 10 is a method of
using a medical tube. Fanselow disclose a method of
using a medical tube that is a polymeric blend, has been
extruded, has been oriented, and then quenched or heat
set, which would lock in the oriented diameter, see col.
12, line [?]. In the alternative, it would have been
obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art at the
time the invention was made to heat set the oriented tube
in Fanselow so that the oriented tube would not change
diameter or shape.
We note initially that although the examiner seems to use
“quenched” and “heat set” interchangeably, Fanselow’s
disclosure that the tubing is quenched (col. 13, lines 6 and
7) is not a disclosure that it is heat set. According to
dictionary definitions supplied by appellants with the reply
brief, “quenching” means “cooling suddenly, as in tempering
7
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