Appeal No. 1998-2415 Page 3
Application No. 08/751,798
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to an apparatus for slicing food sticks, a slicing blade for slicing
food sticks and a method for slicing a stream of food sticks. The key feature of the invention is the
blade, which comprises a top flat surface disposed substantially parallel to the food stick cut surface
and a bottom primary bevel surface which, together with the top flat surface, defines a "primary angle."
It is important to appellants that the "primary angle" be especially steep (specification, page 7). A copy
of the claims on appeal appears in the appendix to appellants' brief.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the appealed claims
are:
McBrady et al. (McBrady) 3,299,925 Jan. 24, 1967
Scheflow et al. (Scheflow) 4,685,364 Aug. 11, 1987
The following rejection is before us for review.
Claims 1,3-23, 25-31, 33-36, 38-58, 60-67, 70-75, 77-87 and 89-91 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Scheflow in view of McBrady.
Reference is made to the brief (Paper No. 20) and reply brief (Paper No. 22) and the answer
(Paper No. 21) for the respective positions of appellants and the examiner with regard to the merits of
this rejection.
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