Appeal 2006-2254
Application 10/182,369
BACKGROUND
Appellant’s invention relates to a process for producing an adhering
fastening element from a plastic material. The claimed invention specifies
the processes which occur in the preshaping station and the shaping station
where the adhering fastening element obtains a mushroom-shaped head.
Claim 11, as presented in the Brief, appears below:
11. A process for producing an adhering fastening element from
plastic material with a strip or sheet backing element and with a plurality of
interlocking elements on at least one side of the backing element, each of the
interlocking elements having a mushroom-shaped head component
connected to the backing element by a stalk component, the process
comprising the steps of:
in a preshaping station, feeding thermoplastic material in a pulpy,
plastic, pasty or liquid state into a gap between a pressure roller and a
shaping roller, rotating the pressure and shaping rollers to form a backing
element in the gap and to form at least stalk components extending from at
least one side of the backing element in through openings in a sieve on the
shaping roller, preshaping outer ends of the stalk components while in the
openings in the sieve by preshaping elements in the openings at a side of the
sieve remote from the pressure roller to provide preshaped outer ends of the
stalk components, and allowing the plastic material to set at least partially in
the openings in the sieve;
guiding the backing elements with the stalk components preformed
thereon in a conveying direction away from the preshaping station; and
in a shaping station located downstream of the preshaping station in
the conveying direction, shaping the preformed outer ends of the stalk
components by widening the preformed outer ends into mushroom-shaped
head components of one of different configurations by ultrasonic energy and
a shaping tool engaging the outer ends of the stalk components.
The Examiner relies on the following references in rejecting the
appealed subject matter:
Obeda US 3,499,808 Mar. 10, 1970
MacLaughlin US 4,514,242 Apr. 30, 1985
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