Appeal No. 2003-0609
Application No. 09/497,844
Background
Appellants’ invention pertains to a nozzle for spraying very
high solid content adhesive. A further understanding of the
invention can be derived from a reading of claim 12, the sole
independent claim on appeal, which appears in the appendix to
appellants’ brief.
The sole reference applied by the examiner against the
appealed claims is:
Stern et al. (Stern) 5,715,975 Feb. 10, 1998
Claims 12-17 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being
anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
obvious over Stern.
The Stern reference
Stern pertains to a nozzle for spraying a gaseous medium from
an aerosol spray can. As is apparent from a cursory inspection of
Stern’s drawing figures, a large number of spray nozzle embodiments
are disclosed. Each of these embodiments incorporates the
following two features, (1) an elongate passageway through which
pressurized air, for example, may pass before exiting the aerosol
device, and (2) the use of a plurality of outlet orifice
configurations, whereby the outlet orifice has a different cross
section for each of the configurations to provide a plurality of
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