Appeal No. 1999-2534
Application No. 08/577,915
The invention relates to foam trim panels. (Specification at 1, ll.15–18.) More
specifically, Appellants seek to protect a method of making trim panels comprising
impregnating a foam panel with a urethane-containing polymer that has no free
isocyanate (-NCO) groups due to reaction with an organic silicon containing material,
and then shaping and curing the panel. (Id. at 2, ll.15–32.) The absence of isocyanate
groups reduces the reactivity of the uncured polymer to moisture and premature curing.
(Id. at 1, l.33, to 2, l.11.)
The claims
Appellants state that the claims stand or fall together. (Br. at 3.) Accordingly, we
shall restrict our consideration to independent claim 1, which reads as follows:
A method for forming a trim panel comprising the steps of:
providing a foam trim panel and impregnating the foam trim panel
with a binder composition to form an impregnated foam trim panel, the
binder composition is a urethane containing polymer which has been
reacted with an organofunctional silaceous material resulting in no free
!NCO groups present in the binder composition during the impregnating
of the foam trim panel, and
shaping and curing the impregnated foam trim panel to a desired
configuration by passing the impregnated panel into a mold maintained at
a temperature of at least 250º F so that the organofunctional silaceous
material reacts and cures to assist the impregnated foam trim panel in
obtaining the desired configuration.
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