Appeal No. 2006-0501
Application No. 10/131,019
sheet corresponding to the claimed film sheet (see column 16,
line 55 to column 17, line 39 and column 8, lines 55-64);
laminating to form a thermoformable backing sheet (see column 16,
lines 55-60 and column 17, line 40 to column 18, line 8); and
thermoforming the backing sheet by placing it in a clamping frame
of a vacuum-forming machine above the working surface of a
vacuum-forming buck “at the position shown in phantom lines at
106 in Figure 8” to form a highly contoured three-dimensional
shape article (see column 18, lines 20-65). Substantial evidence
supports the examiner’s finding that the thermoforming step
taught in Spain corresponds to the claimed vacuum molding of the
film sheet in a mold cavity.
As also pointed out by the examiner (the Answer, pages 3-6),
the contoured three-dimensional shape article taught by Spain is
further subjected to an “injecting-cladding operation in which
the preformed laminate 116 is adhered to an underlying plastic
substrate panel.” See also, column 19, lines 39-42. The
preformed laminate “is placed in an injection mold 117 and fused
to the face of an injection molded substrate 118” which is
introduced to “a passage 126 in the rear mold half 122 and into
the mold cavity behind the preformed laminate 116.” See column
19, line 39 to column 20, line 5. The injection molded substrate
5
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