Ex Parte Ward - Page 9

                Appeal 2006-2290                                                                               
                Application 10/278,190                                                                         

                the airborne contaminants and (2) an electrostatic charge of the same                          
                polarity is placed on a material so that it repels or deflects the charged                     
                airborne contaminants.  Siess cols. 1-6, col. 10, l. 10, to col. 11, l. 39, and                
                FIGs. 5-7.  A face mask can be electrostatically charged.  Siess col. 5,                       
                ll. 53-56; col. 10, ll. 16-18 and 44-46; col. 11, 23-26, 40-48, and 62-65; and                 
                FIGs. 5-9.  Siess describes the illustrative face mask depicted in FIG. 8 as                   
                involving                                                                                      
                     a method and apparatus for applying an electrostatic charge to a                          
                     face mask for repelling charged airborne agents. The apparatus is                         
                     a charged mask generally indicated by the numeral 710.                                    
                      The mask 710 is comprised of one or more electrostatically-                              
                     charged polymers [sic] fiber layers 712 to repel charged airborne                         
                     agents. The repelling material can be of a type manufactured by                           
                     3M Corporation (USA) under the trade name filterette, or as                               
                     manufactured by Hepworth.                                                                 
                Siess col. 11, ll. 40-48.  With respect to the cited sources of “repelling                     
                material,” we notice that FiltreteTM Air Filter Media is a 3M Corporation                      
                product used in FiltreteTM Filters products which contain electrostatically                    
                charged fibers, and Hepworth Minerals & Chemicals Ltd. has the product                         
                “Technostat” which is an “electret air filter medium.”3                                        
                      We find mask 710 as depicted in FIG. 8 shows only a top or front                         
                layer, a nose piece and ties for fixing the mask on the head of the wearer.                    
                No other mask component(s) is/are identifiable from FIG. 8.  The face masks                    
                416 in FIG. 5, “56” in FIG. 6, 616 in FIG. 7, and 812 in FIG. 9 show only a                    
                top or front layer and ties.                                                                   

                                                                                                              
                3  This information is readily available on a number of websites through any                   
                search engine.                                                                                 
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