Appeal No. 1997-0958
Application 08/300,669
(col. 1, lines 5-10; page 4, lines 56-62). The examiner has
not explained, and it is not apparent, why the combined
teachings of the applied references would have led one of
ordinary skill in the art to use Schmalz’s ethoxylated
polydimethylsiloxane, which is a component of a composition
used to render the surfaces of polyolefin fibers hydrophilic,
in Chandler’s composition which has the purpose of providing a
lubricating finish to spandex fibers (col. 1, lines 12-15).
In the other applied references, polydimethylsiloxane is
applied to the surfaces of fibers to form a lubricating finish
thereon, and in all of the references except Hanzel the fibers
are not spandex fibers. The examiner argues that because
Schmalz discloses ethoxylated polydimethylsiloxane and Koerner
teaches that it was known to add additional materials to
spandex fibers before spinning a solution to form fibers, it
would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to
add ethoxylated polydimethylsiloxane to the additives in the
primary references in order to impart desired characteristics
to the products (answer, page 4). The examiner does not point
out where Koerner discloses spandex fibers, and in the portion
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