Appeal No. 1997-3264
Application 08/501,769
in the propagating direction. Appellants’ only argument is
that the applied references do not disclose or suggest this
limitation (brief, pages 9-10).
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)
Rejection over Valimont
Valimont discloses “a method and apparatus for assembling
sandwiches comprising a flexible sheet of interlayer material
and a pair of bent glass sheets while the latter retain at
least a portion of residual heat from their shaping” (col. 1,
lines 9-12). The sandwich is formed by placing one side of
the flexible interlayer on a lower glass sheet and then
bringing the upper glass sheet into contact with the other
side of the interlayer (col. 6, line 58 - col. 7, line 24).
During this assembly the glass sheets are held by vacuum cups
and the upper glass sheet retains its normal shape (col. 6,
lines 36-39; col. 24, lines 67-68).
The examiner argues that the upper glass sheet, which the
examiner considers to correspond to appellants’ topfilm
(answer, page 3), is simultaneously tensioned “to the extent
that suspending portions of the sheeted topfilm cause tension
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