Appeal No. 1999-2145 Page 11
Application No. 08/781,605
bands of tape, for example, fiber tape, are placed around the reinforcement
band 10 to hold the band 10 tightly in place until the adhesive 9 cures.
(Emphasis added.)
In view of these passages from the specification, taken in the light of the evidence of the
failure of the discrete applications of adhesive to perform in the manner required by the
claimed method and which established that the claimed method was successfully
performed when the convolutions were bonded to one another to form a monolithic unit, we
interpret “securing” as used in claims 33 and 47 to mean secured to such an extent that no
slippage can occur between adjacent convolutions when the pipe is pressurized to the
degree required by the claims, for example, as is provided when the adjacent convolutions
are bonded together into a monolithic unit. Considering the rejection in the light of this
interpretation, it is our conclusion that the combined teachings of Reinforcement Digest,
Fawley, the admitted prior art and Pipeline Reinforcement, which we have discussed
above and which were combined by the examiner with regard to this feature of the
invention, fail to teach such “securing.”
Nor, in our view, would such have been suggested by the other references applied
against these claims. Shaw is directed to repairing a rigid hollow article such as a pipe by
placing a patch over a breach in the article and then wrapping it with multiple helical turns
of a flexible tape of glass fiber cloth which is impregnated with a self-curing resin as it is
being installed. When the resin cures, the material is converted to a hard, solidified state
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