Appeal No. 1997-2931
Application 08/237,034
relative speeds of the drive motors for these components
should be carefully controlled to ensure proper tautness of
the web. However, where we part company with the examiner is
in assessing how one of ordinary skill in the art would have
modified the devices of the primary references in view of
Kuhnel’s teachings.
From our perspective, one of ordinary skill in the art
would have learned from Kuhnel that, in order to control the
tension in the web in the area between the point where the
coating is applied (Kuhnel’s applicator nip 17) and the point
where excess coating is removed (Kuhnel’s doctor blade 30),
the tension of the web upstream of the application location
and downstream of the doctor blade should be carefully
controlled. In addition, we believe the ordinarily skilled
artisan would have learned from
Kuhnel that the speed of the application roll relative to the
backing roll and the amount the web is snubbed around the
backing roll are considerations in maintaining web tautness in
-7-
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007