Appeal 2007-0838
Application 09/851,242
interior to form a cartridge (second potting) (see col. 8, lines
44-48, col. 9, lines 1-7 and 60-68 and col. 9, lines 41-60).
Further, it should be noted that Mancusi et al. ('832)
specifically teach potting of the tube-sheets to the interior of the
housing (see col. 9, lines 22-27). Furthermore, Mancusi et al.
('832) teach that the potting between the fabric and the core
occurs by putting down continuous resinous potting material
lines (bead-potting) (see col. 10, lines 45-50).
Regarding claim 1, although Mancusi et al. ('832) teach a
second potting step, Mancusi et al. ('832) do not specifically
teach mold potting. Bikson et al. ('019) teach a process for
forming a hollow fiber membrane contactor cartridge including,
providing a mold, inserting the ends of a plurality of hollow
fiber (3) bundles into the mold and injecting a resinous material
into the mold to form tube-sheets (1) that are integral with the
housing (see col. 4, lines 48-68). Therefore, it would have been
obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have used mold
potting as an alternative to gravity or centrifugal potting as
taught by Bikson et al. ('019) in the process of Mancusi et al.
('832) because, Bikson et al. ('019) teach that mold potting is
one of many equivalent procedures available to one ordinarily
skilled in the art and also because, both references teach similar
products and processes and solve the similar problem of potting
in a process of making a hollow fiber membrane separation
device (contactor). It is submitted that a space must exist
between the exterior of the fiber bundles and, the mold and the
housing, in order for the resin to penetrate between said spaces,
such that mold potting occurs as described in the
process of Mancusi et al. ('832) in view of Bikson et al. ('019).
(Answer 9-10).
Appellants do not specifically argue with the Examiner’s
determination that Mancusi discloses or suggests a method for forming a
hollow fiber membrane contactor that includes a hollow fiber fabric winding
step, a potting step corresponding to Appellants’ representative claim 1 first
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