Appeal 2007-2135
Application 10/269,840
the Examiner as directed to a non-elected invention (Br. 3). Although the
rejection appealed from was a non-final rejection, we have jurisdiction since
the claims have been twice presented and rejected. See Ex parte Lemoine,
46 USPQ2d 1420, 1423 (BPAI 1994); 35 U.S.C. §§ 6(b) and 134.
According to Appellants, the invention is directed to a method of
forming a thin-walled rubber article using four steps, where the first step is
forming an aqueous latex from vulcanizable rubber, a sulfur-containing
vulcanizing agent, a crosslinking agent that forms carbon-carbon crosslinks,
and water (Br. 3). Independent claim 1 is illustrative of the invention and a
copy of this claim is reproduced below:
1. A method for forming a thin-walled rubber article, said method
comprising:
(a) forming an aqueous latex comprising vulcanizable rubber, a
sulfur-containing vulcanizing agent, a crosslinking agent that forms
carbon-carbon crosslinks, and water, said latex being devoid of
vulcanization accelerators that contain secondary amine groups; and
(b) forming said aqueous latex into said thin-walled rubber article by:
(i) forming said aqueous latex into a film,
(ii) evaporating water from said film, and
(iii) subjecting said vulcanizable rubber to vulcanization
conditions either before step (i), between steps (i) and (ii), after
step (ii), or both before step (i) and after step (ii).
The Examiner has relied on the following prior art references as
evidence of obviousness:
Noecker (‘320) US 6,051,320 Apr. 18, 2000
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