Appeal No. 1997-4044 Page 15
Application No. 08/504,233
Claim 11 reads as follows:
A process for installing hydrophone mandrels into an
array forming part of a sonar system, said process
comprising the steps of:
providing an inflatable hose having a radially
expandable wall structure and means for preventing
longitudinal expansion of said wall structure during
inflation;
positioning hydrophone mandrels at desired locations
along said hose to obtain a desired frequency;
said positioning step comprising sliding said
hydrophone mandrels over said hose and partially
inflating said hose so as to provide a slip fit between
the mandrels and the hose without causing any
longitudinal displacement of the mandrels; and
fully inflating said hose so as to provide a
tight connection between said hose and said
hydrophone mandrels without causing substantially
any longitudinal displacement of the mandrels.
The examiner determined (final rejection, p. 2) that Maas
discloses substantially all claimed elements except that it
fails to show the means for preventing longitudinal expansion
of the wall structure of the inflatable air mandrel/hose as
set forth in claim 11. With regard to this difference, the
examiner then determined that providing Maas's air mandrel
with longitudinal fibers would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art from the teachings of either
Boxmeyer or Davis.
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