Appeal No. 2003-2153 Page 9
Application No. 09/632,160
The indoor/outdoor flame-retardant cables in Figures 1-5 may include water
swellable powder particles generally indicated as 320 (as a series of dots) in Figure 4
sprinkled on the one or more optical fibers arranged inside the buffer tube. During
manufacture of the cable, trace amounts of water swellable powder are electrostatically
sprinkled on the one or more optical fibers before being arranged inside the dry-loose
buffer tube. The water swellable powder completely eliminates the need for using
messy and sloppy gel. The use of trace amounts of water swellable powder
significantly reduces the adverse effects of microbending under certain cold
temperature conditions. The water swellable powder also eliminates the need
for a gel that might otherwise adversely react with any flame retardant polyvinyl chloride
(FRPVC) in the buffer tube. The use of water swellable powder is the "dry" aspect of
the dry-loose tube of the new dry indoor/outdoor flame-retardant cable.
The rejection under appeal
In the rejection before us in this appeal (answer, pp. 3-4), the examiner
(1) ascertained that Hager taught the subject matter of claims 1 to 8 except that Hager
fails to disclose applying adhesive onto at least one optical fiber core intermittently in
the lengthwise direction thereof, binding the fiber core to the buffer; and (2) concluded
that "[i]t would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the
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