Appeal No. 2004-0187 Page 3
Application No. 09/745,098
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to
the appellants’ specification and claims, to the applied prior art references, and to the
respective positions articulated by the appellants and the examiner. As a consequence
of our review, we make the determinations which follow.
The appellants’ invention is an improved crown closure for a bottle. The crown
closure has a curved portion that is adapted to be the same shape as the mouth
contour of the bottle which, according to the appellants, avoids crown tilting, eliminates
lacquer breakdown during crowning and during opening of bottles, improves the useful
life of the crown elements, and reduces the blank diameter of crown shells, resulting in
more crowns produced per sheet of material (specification, page 2).
The invention is manifested in independent claim 1 in the following manner:
A crown closure comprising:
a shell having an inside, a top, a skirt, a curved portion and a
plurality of serrations which do not project into said curved
portion;
said curved portion disposed between said top and said
skirt;
a liner secured to said inside; and
wherein said curved portion is adapted to be the same
shape as the mouth contour of a bottle.
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