Appeal No. 2003-0606
Application No. 09/281,837
molten polymer as it exits the die with an aqueous solution of a
water-soluble polysaccharide ether, inflating the tube of molten
polymer to form a blown tubular film and then collapsing the
blown film to a flat web.
The examiner relies upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
Savage 2,831,852 Apr. 22, 1958
Salzinger 3,252,826 May 24, 1966
Schirmer 5,674,607 Oct. 07, 1997
Appellants' claimed invention is directed to a blown film
extrusion process for making a flat web of thermoplastic polymer.
The process entails contacting the inner surface of the formed
tube of molten polymer with an aqueous solution of a water-
soluble polysaccharide ether. Appellants state in their
specification that "[i]t would be desirable to provide materials
which can be used as a sock solution in blown film extrusion
processes which exhibit better performance than mineral oil"
(page 2, first paragraph).
Appealed claims 1-9 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Schirmer in view of Salzinger.
The examiner incorrectly states in the Answer that
"appellant's [sic, appellants'] brief includes a statement that
claims 1-9 do not stand or fall together and provides reasons as
set forth in 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7) and (c)(8)" (page 2 of Answer,
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