Appeal No. 95-2221
Application No. 07/994,072
The subject matter on appeal relates to a method for
manufacturing a rigid fiber composite material. Claim 1 is
representative and is reproduced below:
1. A method for manufacturing a rigid fiber composite
material comprising:
(a) needling a three layer composite including a
non-woven blend of first fibers and second fibers that is
interposed between two interentangled, non-woven layers of the
first fibers so that elongate pieces of said two
interentangled, non-woven layers of the first fibers are
driven into said non-woven blend, said first fibers having a
first melting point, said second fibers having a second
melting point which is higher than said first melting point,
said first fibers comprising greater than ten percent of said
non-woven blend; and
(b) heating said three layer composite to a level
above melting point of the first thereby forming a plasticized
structure and then cooling resulting in the solidification of
the two interentangled, non-woven layers of the first fibers
and said elongate pieces, said solidification occurring
without molding under pressure, heat setting or calendering.
The references of record relied upon by the examiner are:
Parker (Parker) 4,199,635 Apr. 22, 1980
Benedick 4,258,093 Mar. 24, 1981
Adams et al. (Adams) 4,445,954 May 1, 1984
Peoples Jr. (Peoples) 4,568,581 Feb. 4,
1986
O'Connor 4,925,729 May 15, 1990
Serafini 4,935,295 Jun 19, 1990
Schwan 4,971,642 Nov. 20, 1990
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007