Appeal No. 97-2116
Application 07/789,802
the container body with a thermoplastic film, (c) subjecting
the film to elevated temperature and shrinking it for applying
compressive force to the container body radially thereof, (d)
placing an end closure on the container body and applying an
axial force to the end closure and container body for securing
the end closure to the container body, and (e) locating a
portion of the thermoplastic film between the container body
and the end closure and entrapping said portion during step
(d).
In rejecting this claim, the examiner considers (answer,
pages 8-11) that it would have been obvious to (1) employ the
prior art method of column 1, lines 24-34 of Hoffman to a
container of the type described in column 2, lines 9-10 and
lines 23-24 of Hoffman, (2) fill the container with a product
after the shrunk sleeve is applied as “implied in Cvacho
[’423]” (answer, page 8), (3) thereafter forcibly apply an end
closure to the container, and (4) locate, i.e., entrap, the
sleeve between the container body and the container end
closure in the manner called for in claim 10 in view of Figure
5 of Cvacho ‘423. In our opinion, this rejection amounts to a
hindsight reconstruction of the claimed method using the
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