Appeal 2007-3299
Application 10/747,011
1 first surface against the circumference of a length of the
2 wellbore tubular to substantially conform thereto during use.
3
4 (Appeal Br., claims appendix).
5 The Examiner has set forth two prior art rejections. The rejections are
6 as follows:
7 1) Claims 14-19 and 23-26 are rejected as obvious
8 over Bouligny PCT/US90/04616 (Bouligny) in view of Jansch,
9 U.S. Pat. 5,221,099 (Jansch).
10
11 2) Claim 27 has been rejected as obvious over
12 Bouligny and Jansch in view of Slator, U.S. Pat. 4,869,137
13 (Slator).
14
15 The Examiner states that Bouligny teaches the claimed subject matter,
16 except for the flexible member being at least partially coated with grit.
17 (Answer 5). In particular, the Examiner cites Bouligny for its description of
18 a friction sleeve or coating that is used to increase the coefficient of friction
19 between the gripping surface of Bouligny and a tubular member. (Answer 5,
20 citing Bouligny, p. 7, ll. 1-20). The Examiner cites Jansch as describing a
21 flexible lining containing granular particles, such as diamond dust granules
22 or other crystalline materials, such as quartz or glass. (Answer 5). The
23 Examiner states that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
24 the art to employ the particles of Jansch, such as diamond dust, in the
25 gripping arrangement of Bouligny to better compensate for the unevenness
26 of the parts to be clamped. (Id.).
27 Weatherford generally contends that the prior art fails to teach or
28 suggest a gripping arrangement having a flexible member at least partially
29 coated with a grit. (Appeal Br. at 11-14). In particular, Weatherford
3
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