Appeal 2007-0512
Application 10/310,744
should preferably be in the range of from about 25 to 80 Shore A."
(Specification at 8.)
We conclude that the Examiner has set out an insightful and accurate
analysis of the function of weld wheel 63. The similar structures of
Hubbard's weld wheel 63 and Appellants roller 10, together with the overlap
in hardness taught by both for the soft middle material leave us in no doubt
that, in similar circumstances, they would perform similar functions. The
appearance of the nozzle opening in Figure 7, spanning the entire width of
the fastener region, is no accident. Hubbard states, with respect to nozzle 40,
"[r]eferring to FIGS. 1–9, 10, 13 and 14, the flow of heated air from the
outlet id [inner diameter] may be from a single opening 50 and span across
the entire width of the roof membrane fastener 18 to form a heat sealing
weld on each side of the fastener . . . ". (Hubbard at col. 6, ll. 32–35;
emphasis added.) We find that Hubbard teaches that the nozzle assembly
shown in Figure 7 and the other figures listed, heats up the roof membrane
material on both sides and on top of the fasteners. On the present record, the
weight of the evidence strongly supports the finding that the "soft" center
portion of weld wheel 63 in Figure 7 would press down on the heated
membrane covering the roof membrane fastener at least as firmly as—if not
more firmly than—the elastomeric center portion of Appellants' roller 10.
Indeed, in the absence of a recessed section, the contact between the center
of the roller and the roof membrane would be expected, reasonably, to be
even firmer in the apparatus shown in Hubbard Figure 7. Just as Appellants'
roller 10 creates a continuous weld across the faster line, so would
Hubbard's roller 63 in combination with the wide blower shown in Figure 7.
Cf. In re Spada, 911 F.2d 705, 708, 15 USPQ2d 1655, 1658 (Fed. Cir. 1990)
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