Appeal No. 2000-0516 Page 5
Application No. 08/935,609
finished product (i.e., one recognized as having utility in its present form, without modification)
after the time of manufacture of such product. The securement of a component to an
intermediate product as part of the process of manufacturing a finished product is not
"retrofitting" as one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that term. Having reviewed
the disclosure of McMullan, we have not found any, and the examiner has not pointed to any,
teaching or suggestion therein that the shutter disclosed therein is considered a finished product,
having utility as a shutter (form), without all necessary vertical stiffeners welded thereto.
Therefore, we conclude that the step of welding a vertical stiffener to the frame and panel, even
if performed after the end vertical members and horizontal stiffeners have already been welded
to each other and to the panel, is not a step of "retrofitting said support member to said
preexisting concrete form" as required by the claim.
We also hasten to point out that, while the concept of retrofitting components to finished
products after the time of manufacture, at a site of use, for example, is well known generally,
the examiner has neither alleged nor offered evidence that it was conventional in the art of
concrete wall forming to retrofit vertical stiffeners to finished shutters or forms (see brief, page
5, last paragraph).
Accordingly, we shall not sustain the examiner's rejection.
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