Ex parte DAWLEY et al. - Page 2




          Appeal No. 1999-0231                                                        
          Application No. 08/472,354                                                  


               We REVERSE.                                                            




               The subject matter on appeal is directed to an apparatus               
          for reducing procession of a gapless tubular printing blanket               
          in an offset printing press.   With reference to the1                                               
          appellants’ Figure 3, the invention includes a groove 50                    
          extending straight across the circumferential surface of the                
          blanket cylinder 40 and connecting the interface of the                     
          blanket cylinder 40 and a printing blanket (not shown) to an                
          air canal 60.  During operation of the printing press, air                  
          canal 60 is vented to atmosphere so that the fluid wave can                 
          escape to a region of low pressure via the groove 50.  See                  
          specification, pp. 7, 8.  Claim 1 is illustrative of the                    
          subject matter on appeal and is reproduced in an appendix                   
          attached to the main brief (Paper No. 24).                                  
               The prior art references of record relied upon by the                  

               1We are inform by the appellants’ specification (p. 2) that printing   
          blanket procession is a phenomena caused by air trapped in the interface    
          between a printing blanket, e.g., printing blanket 16 (Fig. 1), and the outer
          surface of its corresponding blanket cylinder, e.g., blanket cylinder 14 (Fig.
          1).  The trapped air creates a continually advancing wave (see bulge 26 in  
          Fig. 1) in front of a nip between the blanket cylinder and an adjacent      
          cylinder against which it is pressed causing the printing blanket to bulge. 
                                          2                                           





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