Appeal 2007-2135
Application 10/269,840
With regard to the obviousness of the use of Fruh’s accelerator to
form a thin-walled latex rubber product, Noecker indicates that it was known
to form thin-walled latex rubber products using sulphur-curing systems
(Noecker, col. 3, ll. 36-65). Those systems use accelerators such as zinc
dithiocarbamate and sodium diethylcarbamate (Noecker, col. 1, ll. 37-45).
The accelerator of Fruh is intended to replace accelerators such as the
dithiocarbamates (Fruh, col. 1, ll. 13-20). The evidence supports a finding
that one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation
that the Fruh accelerator would successfully accelerate the sulphur
vulcanization of latex rubber in the formation of a film-thin latex product.
We note that the arylguanidinium xanthogenates are described by Fruh as
ultra-accelerators for rubber vulcanization in general, Fruh does not limit the
accelerator use to any specific type of rubber vulcanization (Fruh, col. 1, ll.
51-54).
For the above reasons, I would sustain the rejections, and affirm the
decision of the Examiner.
TOWNSEND AND TOWNSEND AND CREW, LLP
TWO EMBARCADERO CENTER
EIGHTH FLOOR
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111-3834
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