APPLICATION OF MARZOCCHI

• Decision Date: 09 May 1968
• Docket Number: Patent Appeal No. 7920.
• Parties: Application of Alfred MARZOCCHI and Nicholas S. Janetos.
• Court: U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA)

157 USPQ 504, 394 F.2d 571 (1968)

Application of Alfred MARZOCCHI and Nicholas S. Janetos.

Patent Appeal No. 7920.

United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

May 9, 1968.

Herman Hersh, Chicago, Ill., George A. Degnan, Washington, D. C., McDougall, Hersh, Scott & Ladd, Chicago, Ill., Staelin & Overman, Toledo, Ohio, for appellants.

Joseph Schimmel, Washington, D. C. (Joseph F. Nakamura, Washington, D. C., of counsel), for Commissioner of Patents.

Before WORLEY, Chief Judge, and RICH, SMITH, ALMOND, and KIRKPATRICK, Judges.^*

RICH, Judge.

This appeal is from a decision of the Patent Office Board of Appeals¹ affirming the examiner's rejection of claims 2-25 and 34 of application serial No. 38,745, filed June 27, 1960, entitled "Sized Glass Fibers, Compositions and Methods." The examiner also rejected claims 26-33. Appellants withdrew their appeal to the board with respect to those claims. Appellants now have withdrawn their appeal here with respect to claims 2-18 and 34, leaving only claims 19-25. No claim has been allowed.

The invention is an article of manufacture: glass fibers with a surface coating of a cured epoxidized copolymer attached to the glass fibers by a poly-functional anchoring agent. The claims define the copolymer and anchoring agent more precisely.

19. An article of manufacture comprising glass fibers containing a surface coating of a cured epoxidized copolymer of a polyolefin and a compound containing a molecular grouping from the group consisting of:

where R and R\' are members of the class consisting of OH and OR4, NH2 and NHR3; R2 is a member of the class consisting of OH, NH2, -N-(R3)2, NHR3, OR4 and H where R3 and R4 are organic radicals of not more than 10 carbon atoms in chain length with the proviso that R3 and R4 may contain from 0 to 4 amino groups and where n is an integer from 0 to 1, said cured epoxidized copolymer being attached to the glass fibers by a polyfunctional anchoring agent which forms a part of the copolymer and contains at least one functional group capable of attaching to the surface of the glass fibers and at least one functional group capable of reacting with said epoxidized polyolefin copolymer.

20. The article of manufacture of Claim 19 where the polyfunctional anchoring agent is a compound selected from the group consisting of an organic chrome complex having a carboxylato group coordinated with the trivalent nuclear chromium atom, an organo silane, its hydrolysis products and its polymerization products, wherein said silane contains at least one hydrolyzable group, and an amine, said organic chrome complex, organo silane and amine compounds also containing a functional group capable of reacting with the epoxidized polyolefin copolymer.

21. The article of manufacture of Claim 20 where the functional group capable of reacting with the epoxidized polyolefinic copolymer is selected from the group consisting of carboxyl, primary amino, secondary amino, epoxy, hydroxy, phenolic, acid halide, mercapto-olefinic and amido groups.

22. The article of manufacture of Claim 20 where the epoxidized polyolefinic copolymer is linear and contains at least one epoxy group attached to a terminal carbon atom and at least one epoxy group attached to carbon atoms other than terminal carbon atoms.

23. The article of manufacture of Claim 20 where the epoxidized polyolefinic copolymer contains at least one reactive olefinic linkage.

24. The article of manufacture of Claim 20 where the epoxidized polyolefinic copolymer is of branch chain configuration and contains at least one epoxy group attached to a terminal carbon atom and at least one epoxy group attached to carbon atoms other than terminal carbon atoms.

25. The article of manufacture of Claim 20 where the epoxidized polyolefinic copolymer is a copolymer of 1, 3-butadiene and a hydrolyzed ester of an acrylic acid.

The following prior art is relevant:

Marzocchi et al. 2,931,739 April 5, 1960

Marzocchi et al.² disclose glass fibers with a surface coating of polyester resin attached by a difunctional anchoring agent, e. g., a-aminopropyl triethoxy silane. The specification adds, however:

Instead of the described polyesters, use can be made of other film forming materials * * *. Use can be made of epoxy resinous material such as a self-curable modified epoxy resin of the type manufactured under the trade name "Becco A-10-15-35" or a catalyzed curable epoxy resin such as is marketed under the trade name "Becco A-10-15-50," * * *.

The claims were rejected as anticipated by or obvious in view of Marzocchi et al. and as "vague and indefinite and not complying with 35 U.S.C. 112."

The prior art rejection is based on the examiner's statement that Becco A-10-15-50 "corresponds to" the cured, epoxidized copolymers of appellants' claims. He apparently inferred as much from appellants' argument in another case. Appellants here deny that any of their pending applications support such an inference or that, in any event, it is determinative of patentability. Their argument below was confined to the latter point. The solicitor insists that it should be so confined here.

The rejection under section 112 is based on three separate objections to appellants' claims.

The first is that R groups in the structural formulae of claim 19 are inconsistent with the disclosure of the specification. The effect of the inconsistency is that compounds are...