Appeal No. 1998-2811
Application 08/670,137
reads as follows:1
1. A biodegradable absorbent pad comprising:
an inner liquid absorbent biodegradable sliver;
a soft outer biodegradable non-woven web covering having
elongated edges; said outer covering having been formed by the
joining of said elongated edges by a process other than heat
sealing; said outer covering surrounding a substantial portion
of said sliver;
said outer covering being liquid permeable, wherein
liquid will wick through said outer covering into said inner
absorbent sliver;
said pad enabled to absorb an amount of water per unit
dry weight greater than eight grams water per gram dry weight.
The references relied upon by the examiner as evidence of
obviousness are:
Nelson et al. (Nelson) 1,985,667 Dec. 25, 1934
Gerstenberger et al. (Gerstenberger) 4,995,150 Feb. 26, 1991
Claims 1, 3 through 8, 29 and 30 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Gerstenberger.
Claims 2, 9 through 16, 31 and 32 stand rejected under 35
1 Our review of the appealed claims indicates that the
references to “said elongated sealed edges” in claim 3 lack a
proper antecedent basis (there is no prior recitation that the
edges are “sealed”) and that the recitation in claim 16 of the
water absorption range is somewhat garbled. These
informalities are deserving of correction in the event of
further prosecution before the examiner.
2
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