Appeal No. 95-2622
Application 08/125,524
We find that the polyamide monofilament McKay (‘749)
describes has a cross-sectional configuration characterized by
5 to 10 striations on the circumference, and each striation
may have a depth within the range of about 4 to 20% of the
diameter of the monofilament, as is required for the
monofilaments of appellant’s Claim 1. Compare the eight lobe
monofilament depicted in appellant’s only drawing.
In his single polyamide monofilament embodiment (McKay
(‘749), cols. 5-6), McKay teaches (McKay (‘749), col. 5, l. 7-
23; emphasis added):
[A] PACM-12 polyamide was prepared . . . . Three
different yarn samples were prepared from this type of
polymer by melt spinning through a spinneret having 18
orifices. Each orifice consisted of six slots radiating
from a central point with equal angles between the slots.
Each of the slots was 0.004-inch wide and 0.009-inch long
(maximum orifice diameter 0.018-inch). Three different
modification ratios were obtained by varying the melt
viscosity of the polymer within the spinneret capillary.
The yarns obtained by this spinning technique were drawn
about 1:6 X. The resulting yarns were about 62 denier
with 18 filaments and zero twist.
This embodiment would have led persons having ordinary skill
in the art to understand that the melt-extruded polyamide
monofilaments which form the yarn McKay (‘749) describes are
oriented polymeric monofilaments within the meaning of the
term in appellant’s specification, i.e., they were melt
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