Ex Parte WELSH et al - Page 2




          Appeal No. 1997-1791                                                        
          Application No. 08/485,304                                                  


               In the rejection of the appealed claims, the examiner relies           
          upon the following references:                                              
          Young                              2,856,268        Oct. 14, 1958           
          DeWolf, II et al. (DeWolf)         4,474,824        Oct.  2, 1984           
          Cohen et al. (Cohen)               4,595,578        Jun. 17, 1986           
          Welsh et al. (Welsh)               5,110,769        May   5, 1992           
               The present application is a continuation of U.S.                      
          Application No. 08/080,436, filed June 18, 1993, now abandoned.             
          An appeal was taken to this Board in the parent application and,            
          in a decision dated July 20, 1999, a merits panel of the Board              
          affirmed the examiner's rejection of the appealed claims under              
          35 U.S.C. § 102 over the same Cohen patent presently applied by             
          the examiner.  The claims of the instant appeal contain a                   
          limitation not present in the claims of the prior appeal, namely,           
          the hydrogel has a volatiles content of at least 40 wt.%.  In               
          addition, appellants now rely upon two declarations that were not           
          argued in the prior appeal.                                                 
               Appealed claims 1-5 and 13-16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.           
          § 102(b) as being anticipated by Cohen.                                     
               We have thoroughly reviewed the respective positions                   
          advanced by appellants and the examiner.  In so doing, we find              
          that we cannot sustain the examiner's rejection.                            
               Although Cohen discloses inorganic hydrogel having the                 
          presently claimed pore volume, average particle size and fineness           
          of grind, the examiner appreciates that Cohen is silent with                


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