Appeal No. 1997-4044 Page 6
Application No. 08/504,233
Claim 1
We sustain the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. §
103.
Claim 1 reads as follows:
A removable air mandrel for use in positioning
hydrophone groups in the construction of towed array
sonar systems, said mandrel comprising:
an inflatable tubular structure;
said tubular structure having a wall structure and
means for preventing the tubular structure from expanding
in a longitudinal direction during inflation while
permitting radial expansion; and
said preventing means comprising a plurality of
fibers embedded within said wall structure, said fibers
extending solely in a direction substantially parallel to
a longitudinal axis of said tubular structure; and
whereby said fibers substantially limit any
elongation of said tubular structure so as not to
displace said hydrophone groups along an axis
substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis.
Maas discloses an inner surface fiber affixation for
manufacturing a sensor mandrel. Maas teaches (column 1, lines
14-16) that the field of his invention relates "to an inner
surface fiber affixation system and to a process for producing
fiber optic hydrophone sensor mandrels." Maas also teaches in
his abstract that
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