Appeal No. 97-4048
Application 08/371,934
line to be cut), and b) cutting through the pile elements bent
in step a) and the underlying base portion in a direction
generally normal to said base portion along said line to be
cut, thereby partially shearing the pile elements bent
downward in step a) along said
line to be cut such that a two-sided cut is formed wherein the
pile elements adjacent to one side of the cut remain substan-
tially unsheared. As has been noted by the examiner (answer,
page 6), claim 18 does not necessarily require that the pile
elements remain bent during the cutting step, but only that
the pile elements which are cut in step b) are those which
were bent in step a), which pile elements may now remain
partially bent or have returned to their upright position.
Appellants’ assertion (brief, page 4) that the disclosure
of MacDonald (col. 6, lines 16-19) concerning the size of the
cutting blade would preclude the blade 20' from performing the
partial shearing feature recited in claim 18, is unpersuasive.
MacDonald merely indicates that the blades (20, 20') do not
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