Appeal No. 2004-1750
Application No. 09/985,937
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
appellants' invention to provide a railroad tie like that
disclosed in Nosker '932 with a series of concave shaped recesses
(9) formed in the bottom surface thereof, which recesses will
serve to provide for greater grip of the tie body to the
foundation, or road-bed, as suggested in Reis. Alternatively, we
also find ample suggestion for concluding that it would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
appellants' invention to modify the ties of Reis by making such
ties of a polymeric material like that disclosed in Nosker '932
so as to gain the many advantages of a tie formed of such a
composite building material (see, Nosker '932, col. 3, lines 32-
57; col. 4, lines 6-20; and col. 7, lines 27-66). Further
motivation for this combination is expressly found in Nosker '932
in the paragraphs spanning columns 3 and 4 of the patent, wherein
it is noted that ties formed of the polymeric composite building
material of Nosker '932 are a desirable substitute for both
traditional creosote treated wood ties and steel reinforced
concrete railroad ties (e.g., like the concrete ties shown in
Reis).
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