Appeal No. 1998-2119
Application No. 08/343,965
process thereof would work with all composite structures
produced form [sic] strip-like material by applying heat and
pressure thereto" (answer, pg. 7).
Appellant argues that neither French ‘210 nor Japanese
‘845 teaches nor suggests calendering the stack to at least
partially crush the expanded-metal sheet. As set forth in
appellant’s reply brief on page 4, the PTFE would be in a
gelatinous state during the hot pressing step taught in French
‘210 and would not result in any crushing of the metal.
Appellant finds support for this conclusion in Dupont Teflon
Compression Molding,
pages 13-15. Appellant also argues that Japanese ‘845 does
not disclose the separate calendering step as recited in the
claims on appeal.
Referring to Japanese ‘845, it cannot be determined
whether the examiner is suggesting that the calendering step
occurs during the precuring phase (at 1-6) or during the
laminating step (at 7-9) in Figure 1 of the reference. We
find no suggestion that calendering to at least crush the
10
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