Appeal No. 1998-1748
Application No. 08/758,295
“immediately” upon impact by an object, we hold that
Kirschner’s shield is “readily deformable,” as claimed and as
defined by appellant. The shields of Kirschner and appellant
may differ by the amount, or degree, of deformation, but we
find no language in the instant claims which would distinguish
over that disclosed by Kirschner.
At the bottom of page 2 of the Request for Rehearing,
appellant states that “Kirschner can only logically be applied
to the skins of Kirschner’s “rigid” composite. Applicant’s
claim 1 sets forth that the top and sides of the shield can be
readily deformed, not just the skins thereof.”
Appellant’s argument is not well taken. If, by “skins,”
appellant refers to the flexible vinyl cover sheets overlying
the laminated chipboard of Kirschner’s shield, the top and
sides of Kirschner’s shield are both covered by the vinyl
sheets. Therefore, if one accepts that the vinyl coverings,
or “skins,” of Kirschner’s shield are “readily deformable,”
then clearly the top and sides of Kirschner’s shield are, or
can be, readily deformed, as required by claim 1. But, we
note again, that in addition to the vinyl covering of
Kirschner being “readily deformable,” the laminated chipboard
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