Appeal No. 1997-0432
Application No. 08/200,951
or a mixture of the two. Also, there is apparently no dispute
that Silman evidences that it was known in the art to provide
an electrodeposited coating of zinc on metal structures for
the purpose of protecting against corrosion. Hence, we find
no error in the examiner's reasoning that it would have been a
matter of obviousness for one of ordinary skill in the art to
provide a protective zinc coating on the metallic surface
before performing the admittedly prior art process of
electrostatically spraying a thermosetting powder of a
polyester resin or an epoxy resin. As for the claimed step of
inserting an acrylic coating as a bonding sublayer between the
zinc-coated metallic structure and the thermosetting powder,
Camelon discloses the provision of such an acrylic coating as
an intermediate layer between a metallic structure and a
thermosetting powder of an epoxy resin for the purpose of
obtaining improved chemical resistance and durability.
Consequently, we agree with the examiner that it would have
been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to include
the presently claimed acrylic coating as an intermediate layer
between a zinc-coated metallic structure and an
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