Appeal No. 1996-0345 Page 4
Application No. 08/101,999
blade has a "curvature corresponding to the quadratic equation
which defines the curvature of said backing roll outer
surface" as required by the claims on appeal.
In rejecting the claims, the examiner's position is that
since it was known in the art, at the time the
invention was made, to adapt the blade to the
coating environment via changing the shape or
surface contour of the blade relative [to] the web
disposed on the backing roll, and since all backing
rolls have a curvature corresponding to a quadratic
equation, it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art to adapt the shape or
curvature of the blade to correspond with the shape
or curvature of the backing roll, the roll curvature
being based upon the quadratic equation, in order to
effect a uniform coating of a desired amount or
thickness on the web [answer, pages 4 and 5].
If, as the examiner contends, "all backing rolls have a
curvature corresponding to a quadratic equation," the prior
art discussed by Barusten (translation, page 6), which uses an
"originally straight" blade with a backing roll, illustrates
no recognition of the desirability of adapting the contour of
the blade to the curvature of the backing roll. While
Barusten does teach providing rounded contours on the surface
of operation of the coated blade, there is no indication that
Barusten recognized the need or desirability of adapting the
contour of the surface of operation to particularly correspond
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