Appeal No. 96-0043
Application 08/059,043
any kind of preformed tubular shape, but rather is made from a
fabric. The fabric would have no tendency of its own to
assume a circular shape (i.e., to bias the edges toward each
other), but rather is a flexible, flat material which is
wrapped around the pipe or cable and its free edges,
containing closure members 5, are then secured together by a
channel 3 or other means. The lack of bias is illustrated by
Peacock's disclosure that the sleeves may be produced from the
(flat) fabric as it comes off the loom (see Fig. 4 and column
15, lines 44 to 66).
The examiner refers to column 9, lines 47 to 49, as
appearing to teach forming the edge structure of “the slit
open composite” into a variety of shapes. We do not find any
such teaching in these lines, which constitute part of a
disclosure of various means (such as stitches or staples) for
joining the edges. In particular, we find no disclosure of a
“slit open composite;” while there is reference to making
complex tubular articles from simple tubular articles, this
would appear to describe the use of a flattened tube, as
disclosed at column 11, lines 2 to 9, and shown in Fig. 6.
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007