Appeal No. 2002-2063
Application No. 09/635,093
The examiner, throughout the final rejection and Examiner’s
Answer, deems the preamble to be non-limiting.
On the other hand, the appellants have urged that the
preamble be construed as limiting the claimed invention to a two-
component binder system (Appeal Brief, page 6, lines 13-14; page
10, line 15 - page 12, line 6).
We find that the two-component system is described component
by component (designated (a) and (b)) with certain properties
which are required of and consistent with the reaction of a
polyurethane based binder system. Further, the specification has
defined a two component system in the specification at page 1,
lines 3-9, as containing one component which consists of polyols
with a minimum of two OH groups in the molecule and
polyisocyanates with a minimum of two NCO groups in the molecule.
Polyols are said to be formed by condensing phenol or phenol
compounds with aldehydes which contain free OH groups
(Specification, page 1, lines 10-12).
Accordingly, we agree with the appellants and determine that
based upon the instant facts that the preamble of claim 12 is
entitled to some weight, as the claimed composition must contain
at least one polyol with a minimum of 2 OH groups, at least one
polyisocyanate, and be capable of acting as a two-component
polyurethane-based binder system.
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