Appeal No. 2002-2298 Page 4
Application No. 09/442,442
(2) a forming member mounted on said support structure and
having a mounting surface on one side facing toward said one support
surface of said support structure and having a web-engaging forming
surface on the other side, said web-engaging forming surface including
recesses, said forming member defining drain holes extending from said
recesses through said forming member to said mounting surface, so that
at least one of said drain holes faces said one support surface of said
support structure, at least one of said drain holes extending at least partly
over said one support surface of said support structure; and
(3) a porous structure that is disposed between said support
structure and said forming member mounting surface and that defines at
least one curved surface which faces said one drain hole and which is
located between said one drain hole and said one support surface;
supporting a starting web of material on said web-engaging forming
surface;
directing fluid against said starting web to cause portions of said starting
web to be deformed into said recesses and to cause the formation of apertures
through said starting web to define said apertured web as said fluid flows through
said apertures;
draining at least some of said fluid at least (a) through said one drain hole,
(b) alongside said curved surface, and (c) past said one support surface; and
removing said apertured web from said forming surface, wherein said apertured
web has a reduced number of incompletely formed apertures relative to an
apertured web made using a corresponding apparatus comprising said support
structure and said forming member but not said porous structure.
The examiner's rejection
In the rejection before us in this appeal (answer, pp. 4-5), the examiner
ascertained that Turi discloses in Figure 16 a fabric that is placed on a belt, which is
passed multiple times under a manifold with water jets to perforate the film, with a
vacuum source under the belt in the area of the manifold (column 7, lines 15-20). It
was unclear to the examiner why any of the holes of the moving belt would be blocked
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