Appeal No. 2002-0931
Application No. 09/037,625
a coating die comprising a coating gap with the
moving web in a coating position and comprising a
splice coating gap in a splice coating position, the
coating gap being adjustable between the coating
position and the splice coating position during
continuous coating of the coating fluid;
a web guide positioned to guide the moving web in
a first direction past the coating die such that a
coating bead of the coating fluid can be formed in the
coating gap;
a vacuum system positioned to generate a reduced
pressure condition along a lower surface of the coating
die, the vacuum system comprising a vacuum gap with the
moving web in the coating position and comprising a
splice clearance gap in the splice coating position,
the vacuum gap being adjustable independent of the
coating gap between the coating position and the splice
coating position during continuous coating of the
coating fluid;
a detector for signaling an increase in web
thickness; and
a controller functionally connected to the
detector adapted to automatically and independently
adjust the coating gap of the coating die and the
vacuum gap of the vacuum system from the coating
position to their respective splice coating positions
in response to an increase in web thickness in excess
of a predetermined magnitude while maintaining a stable
coating bead.
The examiner relies upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
Finnicum et al. (Finnicum) 5,154,951 Oct. 13, 1992
Umemura et al. (JP ‘074) JP 58-88074 May 26, 1983
Bassa (DE ‘345) DE 33 09 345 Sep. 30, 1984
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