Appeal No. 1997-1409
Application 08/297,399
This is a decision on appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from
the final rejection of claims 1 and 3-8. Claim 2 has been
canceled (Paper No. 14).
We affirm-in-part.
BACKGROUND
The disclosed invention is directed to a molded earplug
which provides enhanced sound protection and more
comfortable withdrawal of the earplug from the ear.
Claim 1 is reproduced below.
1. An earplug comprising:
A unitary molded earplug having an axis that
extends in forward and rearward directions, having an
elongated central stem portion which extends along said
axis and which has forward and rearward stem portion
ends, and having a plurality of hollow truncated cone
elements including a first cone element, with each of
said cone elements having an apex end part merging with
said stem portion and having a rear end part with an
extreme rear end, and with each cone element extending
with rearward (R) and radially outward (A) directional
components from its apex end part along most of the
axial length of the cone element to its extreme rear
end, said apex end parts of said cone elements being
spaced apart along said stem;
said rear end part of said first cone element
having a maximum thickness which is no more than 7
percent of the diameter of said extreme rear end, and
said cone rear end part having an outer surface forming
an included angle of between 50E and 85E as seen in a
sectional view taken perpendicular to said axis.
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