Appeal No. 2002-0963
Application No. 08/122,344
Sherwood discloses a method of fabricating reinforced
plastic pipe or other tubular articles using a filament or tape
winding apparatus. See Answer, p. 6. The apparatus includes a
rotatable reel 2 on which a coil of tape 3 is mounted. The tape
3 is guided onto a mandrel 4 in a generally helical pattern by a
guide mechanism 5 which serves to properly guide the tape and
impart a selected twist to the tape as it moves from the coil on
reel 2 to the mandrel. See col. 2, lines 30-41.
The tape is formed of a reinforcing material and is
impregnated or coated with a thermosetting resin (col. 3, lines
18-27):
The resin is applied to the reinforcing material
in any conventional manner such as dipping, spraying,
roller coating, and the like. After the resin and
curing agent are applied to the reinforcing material,
the resin will begin to cure or polymerize and the
curing of the resin is halted at a predetermined stage
by refrigerating the tape so that the resin will be in
the solid partially cured state and will not be full
cured to the infusible state. The tape can then be
wound in coiled form on reel 2 in preparation for the
pipe fabricating process.
During the fabrication process, the partially cured
thermoset resin may be melted by passing the tape over a heated
distribution roller 21 located proximate the mandrel 4 or by
heating the mandrel itself. See col. 1, lines 23-26.
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