Appeal 2007-2421
Application 10/289,793
controlling a shape of the metal strip using
magnetic force in a non-contact state directly before or
after adjusting the plating weight.
(Br., Claims Appendix). The Examiner and JFE agree that the claim
terminology “taking the metal strip out from the molten metal bath
without applying external force from outside the surface of the metal
strip” requires that no submersed support rolls are employed in the
molten metal bath.3 (See, e.g., Answer, pages 8-9 discussing omission
of submersed support rolls). Independent claim 19 differs from claim
1 in that claim 19 requires that the metal strip is contacted with a
single submersed support roll and then taken out of the molten metal
bath.
The Examiner has rejected the claims on appeal as unpatentable
over the prior art. Specifically, the Examiner has set forth the
following nine (9) rejections:
i) Claims 1-2 and 5 are rejected as anticipated by
Kawamura, JP 11-100651 (“Kawamura”)
ii) Claim 3 is rejected as obvious over Kawamura in view of
Iida, U.S. Pat. 6,242,048 (“Iida”).
iii) Claims 4 and 6 are rejected as obvious over Kawamura in
view of Iida and Suemitsu, U.S. Pat. 5,049,453
(“Suemitsu”)
iv) Claims 7-9 are rejected as obvious over Kawamura in
view of Ando, JP 04-272-162 (“Ando”)
v) Claims 10-11 are rejected as obvious over Kawamura in
view of Kametani JP 06-336669 (“Kametani”)
vi) Claims 12-14 are rejected as obvious over Kawamura in
3 JFE’s specification states that, as part of its invention, a support roll
may be located outside of the metal bath to suppress vibration in the
metal strip while magnetic forces may be used to control the shape of
the metal strip. (Specification, p. 28, Example 4 and Fig. 18).
3
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