Appeal No. 2004-1908
Application No. 09/176,374 Page 2
invention can be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 1,
which is reproduced below.
1. A method of making an electrode assembly for an
electrochemcial cell comprising:
a) providing a combination of an elongated anode
electrode, an elongated cathode electrode and separator
therebetween in a face-to-face relationship wherein one
of the anode and cathode electrodes is shorter in
length than the other of the anode and cathode
electrodes;
b) folding the combination using a mandrel to form
an anode-cathode electrode assembly having a jellyroll
configuration, said mandrel being of substantially
rectangular cross-section having a pair of
substantially parallel and planar oppositely-facing
surfaces;
c) said folding the combination including a first
step of folding the longer one of the electrodes on
itself about the mandrel so that the separator on said
longer one of the said electrode contacts both of said
oppositely-facing surfaces of said mandrel and
subsequent steps of folding both of the electrodes
about the mandrel to form the anode-cathode electrode
assembly; and
d) so that upon removal of the mandrel in the
event any portion of the separator contacted by the
mandrel is impaired only portions of the longer one of
the electrode can contact each other thereby preventing
any electrical short circuit due to the separator being
impaired in a cell containing said anode-cathode
electrode assembly.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Machida et al. (Machida) 4,709,472 Dec. 01, 1987
Takeuchi et al. (Takeuchi) 5,549,717 Aug. 27, 1996
Claims 5, 6, 8, 9 and 16-18 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
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