Appeal No. 1997-2252
Application No. 08/225,965 Page 5
are laminated underneath the cover film and the so produced
laminate is further laminated onto a rigid substrate (2 or
2'). The substrate may be a prefabricated substrate (2), or may
be a rigid foam substrate (2') back-foamed onto the formed vinyl
film (12). An apparatus for carrying out the method is
essentially a forming station with an upper form or mold (1) and
a lower form or mold (15). The lower mold (15) includes nest
dies (8a, 8b) for securely holding and then pressure laminating
the trim inserts (10, 11), whereby a high placement precision of
the inserts (10, 11) is achieved.
Based on our analysis and review of Spengler and claim 1, it
is our opinion that one difference is the step of "positioning a
ring including a cut out portion in said cavity."
The examiner determined (answer, pp. 4-6) that this
difference would have been obvious at the time the invention was
made to a person having ordinary skill in the art from the
teachings of Alesi or Kozlowski and Swenson. We do not agree.
In that regard, while the examiner is correct that both
Alesi and Kozlowski do teach the use of rings in the molding art,
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