Appeal No. 2005-0381 Page 2
Application No. 09/841,380
INTRODUCTION
The claims are directed to an electrostatic spray coating apparatus. The apparatus
functions to electrostatically spray drops of liquid onto a liquid-wetted conductive transfer
surface, the transfer surface in turn functioning to transfer a portion of the liquid to a substrate to
coat the substrate (specification, p. 4, ll. 7-10). According to the specification, a variety of types
of electrostatic spray heads can be employed in the apparatus including those described in
various prior art patents discussed in the specification (specification, p. 7, ll. 10-11). Further
according to the specification, the transfer surface is a drum (e.g. rotating grounded drum 14
shown in Fig. 1; specification, p. 7, ll. 5-7) or transfer belt (e.g. circulating grounded conductive
transfer belt 41 shown in Fig. 4a; specification, p. 10, ll. 30-32).
Claim 33 is illustrative on the invention in its broadest incarnation:
33. An apparatus comprising a liquid coating composition, a circulating conductive
transfer surface that when wet with the liquid coating composition transfers a portion of the
liquid coating composition to a substrate, and an electrostatic spray head that applies drops of the
liquid coating composition onto a target region of the conductive transfer surface, wherein
following startup of the apparatus and one or more circulations of the conductive transfer
surface, the target region has a continuous coating of the liquid coating composition before
newly applied drops land.
As evidence of unpatentability, the Examiner relies upon the following prior art
references:
Neidich 2,833,666 May 6, 1958
Nakajima et al. (Nakajima) 4,847,110 July 11, 1989
Hess 6,503,325 Jan. 7, 2003
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