Appeal No. 96-0002
Application No. 07/860,523
by introducing into a bituminous mixture a plurality of steel
wire pieces adapted to reinforce the concrete. Significantly,
the steel wire pieces are introduced in the form of bundles
held together by a binding substance which disintegrates by
melting when mixed in the hot bituminous concrete mixture.
The binding substance must also be adapted to disintegrate by
water when mixed into a wet cementitious concrete. Because of
these dual binder capabilities, it is not necessary to
maintain separate inventories of wire pieces at construction
sites.
After careful consideration of the opposing arguments
presented on appeal, we find ourselves in agreement with
appellants that the prior art applied by the examiner fails to
establish a prima facie case of obviousness for the claimed
subject matter. We reverse the stated obviousness rejection
for essentially those reasons set forth in appellants’ briefs.
The examiner’s rejection is predicated on his finding
that “Rettenmaier teaches a method of incorporating fibers of
any type into bituminous compositions (emphasis added)” by
incorporating the fibers into a pellet (granulate) using a
binder which disintegrates by melting when mixed with hot
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007