Appeal 2006-2580
Application 09/766,275
1. A stretchable composite sheet comprising:
an elastic sheet having a stretchability in at least one of two directions
that are orthogonal to each other; and
a fibrous assembly in the form of a sheet having a stretchability in one
of said at least two directions and joined to at least one surface of said elastic
sheet, said fibrous assembly comprising a plurality of fibers and having an
inelastic stretchability and being joined to said elastic sheet at binding spots
to form a joined composite sheet structure which is thereafter stretched so as
to change the dimensions of the fibers in the fibrous assembly and the elastic
stretchability of the composite sheet, said binding spots being arranged
intermittently along said two directions, said fibrous assembly comprising
fibers that are curved between adjacent pairs of said binding spots along said
one of said at least two directions, said fibers comprising ethylene/propylene
copolymer containing ethylene at 0.5 – 10% by weight,
ethylene/propylene/butene containing ethylene at 0.5 – 10% by weight and
butene at 0.5 – 15% by weight, or a mixture thereof at 100 –10% by weight.
The Examiner relies upon the following references as evidence of
obviousness:
Morman US 5,116,662 May 26, 1992
Strack US 5,681,645 Oct. 28, 1997
Appellants' claimed invention is directed to a stretchable composite
sheet comprising an elastic sheet and a fibrous, stretchable inelastic sheet.
The inelastic fibrous sheet comprises either an ethylene/propylene
copolymer or an ethylene/propylene/butene copolymer, or a mixture thereof,
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