Appeal No. 97-4253 Page 7
Application No. 08/385,981
and a corner member, the insert which is claimed is a “one-
piece resilient compressible L-shaped foam member”. In
addition, the insert is
“of a thickness significantly less than the length of the
corner piece” as recited in claim 1 or has “a thickness on the
order of one inch” as recited in claim 10.
In regard to the requirement that the foam be resilient
and compressible, appellants argue that since Fragale
discloses that the foam layer provides additional structural
rigidity to the panel and since O’Hanlon discloses that the
foam-type substance becomes suitably hardened so as to hold
various parts of the joint in rigid alignment, these
references disclose rigid foam. We do not agree. In our
view, the foam disclosed in Fragale and O’Hanlon is resilient
and compressible at least to some degree and such resiliency
and compressibility would not prevent the
foam from (1) providing at least some structural rigidity in
Fragale or (2) holding the various parts in rigid alignment in
O’Hanlon.
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