Appeal No. 98-2743 Page 5
Application No. 08/504,100
In other words, in the claimed process of making the porous
inking member the peptizing agents remain as a component of the
finally formed porous inking member.
As the examiner apparently recognizes, there are no
peptizing agents or peptizers in the porous inking member
produced by the process of AAPA. In an attempt to overcome
this deficiency, the examiner has relied on Muller for a
suggestion of utilizing a peptizing agent in the process of
AAPA in order masticate the nitrile rubber compound. Muller,
however, is directed to making erasable ball-pen inks that
include the steps of (a) selecting elastomeric material from
synthetic rubbers not having the chemical structure of natural
rubber, (b) masticating the selected elastomeric material by
subjecting the same to high shearing stress (e.g., in a rubber
mill), (c) coloring the masticated elastomeric material and (d)
mixing the colored masticated elastomeric material with a
solvent (see col. 4., lines 23-42). While Muller vaguely
indicates that it is "helpful" during mastication of the
elastomeric material by a two-roll rubber mill to add a
peptizing agent or peptizer (see col. 6, lines 28-36), we do
not find the vague teaching that a peptizer is "helpful" in
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