Appeal No. 96-3174
Application 07/970,608
cavity simultaneously with resin injection. Upon careful
review of the entire disclosure of Maus, it is our conclusion
that there is no clear disclosure in Maus to this effect.
With respect to the above quoted portions of the Maus
disclosure pointed out by the examiner, initiating the
compression portion of the molding cycle prior to the
completion of injection, as described, for example, in column
14, lines 22-29, could perhaps result in applying a
compressing force to the resin already in the mold cavity, but
this circumstance does not necessarily result.
Notwithstanding the examiner’s implied position to the
contrary, without a more complete description of Maus’ molding
cycle, it is simply not possible to discern precisely what
happens to the resin melt already in the mold cavity upon
commencing the compression portion of the mold cycle before
the completion of injection. In this regard, it is possible
that initializing the compression portion of the cycle before
full delivery of the resin results merely in displacing any
void volume or gas in the oversized mold cavity, as occurs
during the initial portion of the faster phase of Maus’ multi-
stage compression (column 14, lines 35-51; column 28, lines
17
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