Appeal 2007-1222
Application 10/464,914
overlapping two portions of such multilaminate fluid impervious medical
fabric to form an overlapped region wherein the two layers having the
innermost position in apposition to one another have a lower melting point
relative to the melting point of the fluid impervious material layer; heat
sealing the two portions of multilaminate fluid impervious medical fabric
together at the overlap at a temperature which is equal to or greater than the
melting point of the innermost identical layers and which temperature is less
than the melting point of the fluid impervious material layer; whereby an
integrated fused layer is created from the two layers having the innermost
position in apposition to one another, while the fluid impervious material
layer remains unmelted.
The Examiner relies upon the following references as evidence of
obviousness:
Lickfield US 5,484,645 Jan. 16, 1996
Ferencz US 2002/0142692 A1 Oct. 3, 2002
Ellis US 2003/0124310 A1 Jul. 3, 2003
Alberts US 6,830,543 B2 Dec. 14, 2004
Appellants’ claimed invention is directed to a method of making a
fluid impervious seam in a multilaminate fluid impervious medical fabric.
The fabric has at least two layers having different melting points, and one of
the layers is fluid impervious. The method entails overlapping two portions
of the multilaminate fabric such that the layers in apposition to one another
are the layers with the lower melting point relative to the fluid impervious
material. The fabric is heat sealed at the overlapped portions. The
temperature of the heat sealing is less than the melting point of the fluid
impervious layer.
The appealed claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
follows:
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