Appeal No. 97-3345
Application 08/332,936
Claim 14 addresses a method of pipelaying by
connecting two lengths of steel pipe without welding the pipe
comprising, inter alia, forming first and second tubular
members of steel with each member having cylindrical exterior
and interior sur- faces with diameters that are the same as
exterior and interior diameters of the steel pipe to be
connected.
As evidence of obviousness, the examiner looked to
the combined teachings of McGugan, Sweeney, and St. Onge.
Having reviewed the applied evidence, we reach the
conclusion that it would have been obvious to one having ordi-
nary skill in the art, from a collective assessment thereof,
to form the tubular pin and box members (first and second
tubular members) 1, 3 of McGugan with cylindrical exterior and
interior surfaces having diameters that are the same as
exterior and interior diameters of the steel pipe to be
connected. As we see it, the motivation on the part of one
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