Appeal No. 96-2391 Application 08/002,286 This is a decision on the appeal under 35 U.S.C. � 134 from the examiner's rejection of claims 1-20, which constitute all the claims in the application. The claimed invention pertains to a cathode sheath for use in a thermionic electron-gun cathode. Representative claim 1 is reproduced as follows: 1. A cathode sheath for a thermionic electron-gun cathode, the sheath being substantially in the form of a hollow cylinder having an outer surface and an inner surface, a central axis, a closed end and an axially-opposite open end, and a side wall extending between the closed end and the open end, the sheath comprising a continuous bimetallic laminate having a first layer of material forming the inner surface and a second layer of electron-emissive material overlying substantially the entirety of the first layer and forming the outer surface, the laminate having a preselected thickness at the closed end and having a thickness at the side wall which varies along the central axis. The examiner relied on the following references in the final rejection: Larson 3,214,626 Oct. 26, 1965 Opresko 4,554,479 Nov. 19, 1985 The examiner applied the following additional references in new grounds of rejection set forth in the examiner’s answer: Buescher et al. (Buescher) 3,974,414 Aug. 10, 1976 Falce et al. (Falce) 5,218,263 June 08, 1993 (filed Aug. 08, 1991) Hale et al. (Hale) 5,422,536 June 06, 1995 (filed Aug. 03, 1993) The admitted prior art. 2Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007