Appeal No. 2006-0791 Ex parte Gore Enterp. Holdings, Inc.
at least one ion exchange resin filling At 3, cited above; also the list and
and thereby occluding said method at 5-6 and at 9.
micropores of said microstructure
such that said resin filled The examiner appears to treat this
microstructure of said composite limitation as inherent in the description
membrane is air impermeable, "filled".
said composite membrane having a "...the thickness of the thin film is
thickness of at most 0.8 mils preferably 0.1 µm to 50 µm [0.004-
2 mils], and more preferably 2 µm to
25 µm [0.08-0.98 mils]. At 4.
and an ionic conduction rate of at [The examiner contends this limitation
least 5.1 µmhos/min. would be inherent in a material so
constructed.] At 6.
[12] Ito uses unfluorinated ultra high molecular weight polyolefin (e.g., UHMWPE)
rather than PTFE.
[13] Ito teaches various methods to ensure that the resin replaces the air in the
membrane (e.g., trans. at 9).
[14] Ito teaches processing the polyolefin support at a high temperature (trans. at 8):
The heating temperature is preferably in a range from the crystal
dispersion temperature of the starting olefin sheet to the crystal melting point
+ 20°C. More specifically, in the case of polyethylene it is preferably in the range
90°C to 160°C, and more preferably in the range 110°C to 140°C.
[15] The examiner relies on Silva and Mallouk for the suggestion to use PTFE films as
Ito's polyolefin (Ex. Ans. at 4).
[16] The examiner relies (Ex. Ans. at 14-15) on Ito example 3 (trans. at 11-12;
Table 1) to bolster the inherency of the conduction rate limitation.
[17] Ito example 3 shows:
- 5 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007