Appeal No. 1998-1440 Page 13
Application No. 08/368,452
Faced with this deficiency, the examiner alleges,
"Heffernan clearly suggests the full consideration of ... a
period of time in cleaning a polyurethane foam material which
would indicate to one having ordinary skill in the art that
one may choose whatever ... time parameter desired." (Id. at
5.) The reference, however, teaches washing a foam ink pad
for no more than fifteen minutes. Specifically, "[d]uring the
cleaning process, the foam parts are agitated in the liquid
solvent for a period of time. The agitation period should be
no more than about 15 minutes. An agitation period of at
least 5 minutes seems adequate." Col. 3, ll. 56-60.
Rather than a washing time of hours as claimed, Haruta
and Heffernan disclose a washing time of mere seconds or
minutes. Heffernan specifically limits the washing time to
fifteen minutes. In view of this disclosure and limitation,
we are not persuaded that teachings from the prior art would
have suggested the limitations of "contacting said polyether
polyurethane foam ink pad with cold deionized water for a time
period of at least about six (6) hours ...." The examiner
fails to establish a prima facie case of obviousness.
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