Appeal No. 2000-0503 Page 2
Application No. 08/902,031
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to container modules for shipping by rail, truck and
ship, and for temporarily storing dry flowable product which is discharged from the container
module under pressure or by gravity (specification, page 1). An important aspect of the
invention is the means of attaching a tank of the container module to an external support frame.
As seen in Figure 1, appellants' tank 5 is supported at its ends from above by hanger members
47 and corner gussets 51. Elongate tubular members 73 extending longitudinally along each
side of the support frame 3 are welded to the tank to resist downward and outward deflection
of the tank in the center with a fully loaded tank. While there may be some degree of settling
of the tank 5 onto the elongate members 73, the tank is "essentially mostly" suspended by the
hangers 47 (specification, page 10). Further understanding of the invention can be derived
from a reading of exemplary claim 83, which appears in the appendix to the appellants' brief.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the appealed
claims are:
Gerhard 4,412,626 Nov. 1, 1983
Toth et al. (Toth) 5,353,967 Oct. 11, 1994
The following rejections are before us for review.
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