Appeal No. 1998-3001
Application No. 08/318,645
patent indicates (column 5, line 47) that the outer layers may
be made of "Cerex". As is quite clear from the Gin document,3
and recognized by the examiner (final rejection, page 3), this
reference is silent on the provision of a narrow protective
strip. On the other hand, the patent to Fesco teaches a
narrow, reinforcing and auxiliary filtering insert 14 of felt-
like material. As seen in Fig. 1, the insert is held in place
with adhesive strips 16, and the patentee expressly points out
(column 3, lines 16 through 20) that the insert does not
extend to either end of the blank to avoid a bulky
construction.
At best, it appears to us that one having ordinary skill
in the art would have viewed the respective teachings of Gin
and Fesco as alternative filter configurations. Thus, if a
narrower insert were desired it would have clearly been
applied by adhesive and spaced from ends of the filter to
effect a less bulky construction, following the teaching of
Fesco. Therefore, it is our opinion that a narrow protective
3It is worthy of noting that appellant’s protective layer
38 is indicated to be made of "CEREX" (specification, page 9).
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