Appeal No. 98-2156 Page 10
Application No. 08/421,489
390 (CCPA 1959). Indeed, as conceded by the appellant on page
4 of the brief, "it is well known that crosslinking rigidizes
a thermoset material, and increases the value of the elastic
modulus" (footnote omitted) and the artisan would have been
well aware of this "well known" knowledge. Accordingly, one
of ordinary skill in this art would have found it obvious to
select a foamed polyetheylene resin that was cross-linked
(such as that taught by Kimura) for the material of the box of
Kiley, particularly where rigidity and the value of the
elastic modulus were of concern.
The appellant does not appear to specifically dispute the
above-noted position of the examiner regarding the recitation
of "molded" in each of the independent claims under
consideration. In any event, Kiley teaches that the material
forming the box is "extruded" (column 3, line 43) which, as a
broad proposition, can be considered to be a molding
operation. Thus, giving the term "molded" its broadest
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