Appeal No. 97-2715
Application No. 08/306,797
This is an appeal from the decision of the examiner
finally rejecting claims 1-7, which constitute all of the
claims of record in the application.
The appellants’ invention is directed to a method and
apparatus for treating a shirred food casing, and to the
shirred food casing. The subject matter before us on appeal
is illustrated by reference to claim 1, which reads as
follows:
1. A method for treating a shirred food casing strand,
having a diameter, a circumference, a longitudinal axis, a
length, an external surface and a hollow bore along at least a
portion of said longitudinal axis, which comprises providing
an opening space between at least three parallel rollers which
space is large enough to insert the strand, closing the space
so that all three rollers contact the strand and smoothing
said exterior surface by rolling said strand between the at
least three rollers, all of which simultaneously contact said
external surface at different lines of contact along the
entire length of the strand.
THE REFERENCES
The references relied upon by the examiner to support the
final rejection are:
Kostner et al. (Kostner) 3,798,302 Mar.
19, 1974
Moret de Rocheprise 5,207,960 May
4, 1993
2
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