Appeal No. 2001-1527
Application No. 08/753,265
adjacent to the peripheral portions of the die, adjacent to the
corner and edge portions. (Id. at col. 2, ll. 1–5.) The cooling
air escapes via a venting bore 29 in the center of the central
portion. (Id. at col. 3, ll. 61–67.) According to Medwed, the
temperature and pressure of the supplied air are adjusted so the
corners will have the same wall thickness as the wall portions of
the containers. (Id. at col. 4, ll. 13–17.)
The examiner’s rationale
Rejection 1:
In support of the rejection for lack of an adequate written
description of the claimed subject matter, the examiner states
that “[n]o apparent basis, either specific or inherent, has been
provided in the original disclosure for excluding heating or
cooling in other areas of the mold.” (Answer at 3.)
Rejection 2:
In support of the obviousness rejection, the examiner finds
that Donohoe teaches providing a drumhead membrane having a
circular disk-shaped flat battering section and a peripheral
section; a thermoforming process (citing Donohoe at col. 5,
ll. 48–54) in which heat and positive pressure (id. at col. 5,
ll. 48–54) are applied to a thin sheet of synthetic polymer (id.
- 6 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007