Appeal No. 2006-1120
Application No. 10/429,429
flexible polyurethane foam reaction mixture" as a mixture of
ingredients which react under certain conditions to produce a
flexible polyurethane foam. We consider Eling to disclose the
so-interpreted claim feature. This is because the corresponding
mixture of the reference includes ingredients which are reacted
under certain conditions to produce a polyurethane foam which is
transformed from a rigid to a flexible form by a crushing
technique (e.g., again see lines 13-21 on reference page 5).
It appears to be the appellants' implicit position that
Eling's above-described polyurethane foam reaction mixture does
not constitute "a flexible polyurethane foam reaction mixture" as
recited in claim 1 because the foam is initially rigid and then
made flexible by a crushing technique. However, we do not
understand and the appellants do not explain why an artisan would
interpret the claimed feature under consideration as somehow
excluding the crushing step taught by Eling. Certainly, an
artisan would consider the flexible polyurethane foam disclosed
by appellants as resulting from certain steps (e.g., adding,
mixing, heating, etc.), and the appellants point to nothing in
their claims which would have excluded from these steps the
crushing step of Eling.
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