Appeal No. 96-2247 Page 8
Application No. 08/218,488
essentially perpendicular intersecting sets of elements since
that would have resulted in the shroud 52 being porous. Wilde's
shroud 52 is disclosed as being a buoyant member 52. Wilde
discloses (column 6, lines 22-47) that
[t]he buoyant members 52 are generally hollow structures and
their effective buoyancy may be varied by allowing water to
flow into or forcing water out of the internal spaces within
the foil members. In this way, the net buoyancy of entry
tube 50 and the various structures connected thereto (not
including central sphere 10) may be adjusted about a neutral
buoyancy so as to be capable to providing a net positive or
a net negative buoyancy of entry tube 50 and the attached
structures. It should be noted that when the access
apparatus (e.g., entry tube and attached structures), are in
functional relationship to the sub-sea structure as shown in
FIG. 4, the access apparatus may have either a negative or a
positive net buoyancy and still achieve the desired righting
action by means of buoyant foil members 52. This may be best
illustrated by noting that increasing the weight at the
lower end of entry tube 50 will decrease the buoyancy of the
access means and still give the desired vertically floating
characteristic as a result of buoyant foils 52. Therefore,
the choice of positive, negative or neutral buoyancy for the
access means when in functional disposition with respect to
the sub-sea structure will depend on the structural details
and the anchoring or mooring for the sub-sea structure.
Thus, it is our opinion that one skilled in the art would not
have modified Wilde's member/shroud 52 to be porous since that
would have negated the primary purpose of the member/shroud 52.
Additionally, the appellants argue that the applied prior
art would not have suggested the limitations of claim 1 that the
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