Appeal No. 1998-2415 Page 9
Application No. 08/751,798
not possess the same advantages as the blade of appellants' invention with regard to slicing such
products.
Finally, as to claim 87, we note that McBrady discloses a blade devised for severing meat
product in semi-frozen condition and that appellants' claim 87 is directed to slicing of food sticks which
are frozen or partially frozen. While McBrady teaches that the "semifrozen" state of meat products,
such as ground hamburger patties and bacon, is generally defined by the temperature range of 25-29o
F, one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of appellants' invention would have appreciated that the
temperature range over which a particular meat product is "semi-frozen" would vary somewhat
depending on the particular type of meat, as well as its fat and water content. From our viewpoint,
such an artisan would have understood McBrady as teaching the use of a blade having the features
disclosed therein for slicing meats at any temperature at which they are in semi-frozen condition and
would not have construed the referenced temperature range of 25-29 F as being a critical limitation ono
the operating temperature. As appellants' specification (page 11 and claim 87) indicates that, at least
some meats may be in the semi-frozen or partially frozen state at temperatures of about 22 F or less,o
we do not interpret appellants' brief as arguing that the claimed temperature range precludes
temperatures at which the meats are semi-frozen. Therefore, we find that the combined teachings of
Scheflow and McBrady are sufficient to establish a prima facie case of obviousness of the subject
matter of claim 87.
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