Appeal No. 95-3094
Application No. 07/975, 141
view of Hicks, Nina, Davis or Smith.
We reverse.
This is the second appeal of subject matter relating to a
continuous intermixed fiber tow formed from continuous
individual thermoplastic fibers and continuous carbon
reinforcing fibers which are intimately and uniformly
intermixed to provide a uniform distribution of the respective
fibers in the tow. The tow is useful in forming composite
molded articles. In the first appeal, the dispositive issue
raised by the examiner’s obviousness rejection of the then
pending appealed claims was whether the prior art Baucom
reference contained an enabling disclosure, i.e., whether one
of ordinary skill in the art could combine Baucom’s process
description of intimately mixing thermoplastic fibers with
graphite reinforcing fibers "with his own knowledge of the
art" to make a tow as "conceived" by Baucom . See the last 2
2The subject matter of the present appeal was developed
by appellants under a contract with NASA. After appellants
conceived the invention, the conception was disclosed to
Robert Baucom at NASA who disclosed his understanding of the
"conception" of the invention in the NASA Tech Briefs in the
fall of 1982. Baucom did not expressly disclose how to
prepare the intermixed fiber tow. See paragraph 2 of the
declaration of McMahon.
3
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