Appeal No. 1998-3367
Application No. 08/545,717
of the belt may be less than the belt’s width to reduce to the
greatest possible extent the possibility of the hook elements
contacting the wearer’s skin and irritating the wearer
(specification, page 7).
In rejecting this claim, the examiner points appellants’
attention to Figure 3 of Gipson. This figure shows attachment
strips 18 of the absorbent assembly 14 being spaced away from
the edges of the flaps 26. Gipson explains the significance
of this placement as follows:
Each patch 18 may be spaced
inwardly from the lateral and longitudinal
edges of the flaps 26 at least approximately
0.6 centimeters, to provide for variations
in positioning during manufacture and
obviate the rough edge of the patch 18
from contacting and irritating the skin
of the wearer. The patches 18 may be
polygonol [sic], preferably rectangular in
shape. Such shape preferably has a greater
lateral dimension than longitudinal dimension,
with the longitudinal dimension being less
than the width of the belt 12, to provide for
longitudinal adjustment of the disposable
assembly 14 relative to the belt 12.
[Column 6, line 63, through column 7, line 6;
emphasis added.]
While Gipson’s drawing figures do not show the attachment
strips 18 of the waist belt as being spaced inwardly from the
15
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