Appeal No. 2002-0931
Application No. 09/037,625
disclosure of a vacuum system of the type claimed. As a result,
the examiner relies upon the combined teachings of Finnicum and
DE ‘345. Finnicum, however, fails to disclose any adjustment in
the vacuum gap between the vacuum system and the moving web.
Rather, Finnicum discloses regulating the speed of the motor
which generates the vacuum such that the pressure differential
across the coating bead can be increased in response to a splice
on the coating web. Accordingly, the combined teachings of JP
‘074 and Finnicum would not have resulted in the claimed system
which includes the vacuum gap being adjustable during the
continuous coating of the fluid.
The examiner’s further reliance on DE ‘345 does not remedy
the deficiency in the combined teachings of JP ‘074 and Finnicum.
In relevant part, DE ‘345 discloses that “[s]ince the [vacuum]
housing can be adjusted independently from the pouring device on
a planetary path concentric to the casting roll, the gap
initially set between the housing and the casting roll can remain
and thereby a defined mode of operation can be sustained even
after an adjustment” (page 4 of English translation, third
paragraph, emphasis added). Hence, it can be seen that DE ‘345
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