Appeal No. 96-3501
Application No. 08/172,773
polyolefin foam pad. Importantly, the pressure within the
parison is raised and lowered to cause the parison and heat
fusible surface of the foam pad to intermingle and fuse when
“the pad and parison are made from the same material”
(specification, page 3, lines 14-16). This is said to insure
a secure attachment of the fuel tank to the heat shield
(brief, page 2).
As evidence of obviousness of the claimed method, the
examiner relies on the disclosures in Ohashi, Geise, and Ufer.
That Ohashi discloses a method of making a plastic fuel tank
substantially identical to that claimed with the exception of
the pressure raising and lowering step is not disputed by
appellant. Appellant contends, however, that none of the2
references teach “increasing and decreasing the pressure
within the parison to aid in intermingling the foam and
parison interfacial surfaces (emphasis added).” See the brief
at page 4, lines 1-4. Appellant acknowledges that Giese and
Ufer teach pressure changes to promote fluorination of a blow
2Appellant’s brief contains no specific arguments or
analysis of Ohashi, nor any arguments that the references have
been improperly combined.
3
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