Appeal No. 2004-0572
Application 09/849,315
column 7. Moreover, patentee’s disclosure of palletizing banded
stacks of recycled tire material to facilitate warehousing and
handling purposes (e.g., again see lines 46-63 in column 7), when
considered in combination with the teachings of Pignataro, would
have suggested the second mentioned “stacking” feature wherein
tread strip sections are stacked on pallets in rubber-to-rubber
configurations.
With regard to appealed claim 9 which depends from
claim 1, the appellant argues that the applied prior art contains
no teaching or suggestion regarding the here claimed step of
piling said flat sections into stacks “that avoid accumulation of
water when stored outside in the environment.” In support of
this argument, the appellant refers to the Declaration under
37 CFR § 1.132, filed December 9, 2002, in which it is asserted
that Miller’s stacked structure would form cavities, which would
accumulate water, as depicted in the sketch on Declaration
page 2. The appellant also considers this Declaration to evince
that the method of Miller would not yield the previously
mentioned rubber-to-rubber feature of independent claim 1.
8
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