Appeal 2006-2400
Application 10/051,814
fibrous flexible absorbent nonwoven sheet material consisting
essentially of cellulosic fibers or blends of cellulosic fibers such
as rayon and cotton fibers or blends of such cellulosic fibers
with one or more synthetic fibers such as polypropylene,
polyethylene, polyester and nylon fibers (See column 4, lines
63-68; column 5, line 1). [Emphasis original.] Answer at 2-3.
As acknowledged by the Examiner (Answer 4), Pregozen does not
mention a cellulosic fiber containing web having the claimed anionic surface
charge and a polymer binder containing a cationic surfactant. The
dispositive question is, therefore, whether one of ordinary skill in the art
would have been led to employ the above missing features in the method of
the type described in Pregozen. On this record, we answer this question in
the affirmative.
As indicated supra, Pregozen teaches preparing a bonded non-woven
web used as a wet wipe (moist wipe) substrate. Specifically, Pregozen
teaches that:
The substrate employed in the moistened wipe of the invention
is a fibrous flexible absorbent nonwoven sheet material
consisting essentially of cellulosic fibers or blends of cellulosic
fibers such as rayon and cotton fibers or blends of such
cellulosic fibers with one or more synthetic fibers such as
polypropylene, polyethylene, polyester and nylon fibers. Such
blends may also include wood pulp fibers. Binders generally
are employed to bind together the fibers thus ensuring that the
finished nonwoven sheet has adequate wet strength. Such
binders are, for example, acrylic polymers, ethylene vinyl
acetate polymers, vinyl acetate copolymers and styrene
butadiene polymers. Such nonwoven materials and processes
for their manufacture are well known in the art. Processes for
manufacturing such nonwoven sheet materials include carding,
air laying, water entanglement, thermal bonding and wet
laying. [Emphasis added.] Pregozen at col. 4, ll. 63-68 and col.
5, ll. 10-11.
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