Appeal No. 1997-2097
Application No. 08/191,137
aluminum alloy parts with iron so as to allegedly obtain a
product that will satisfy adhesion, hardness and abrasion
requirements without the use of copper cyanide and iron
chloride in the process (specification, pages 1 and 2). An
understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading
of exemplary claim 9, which is reproduced below.
9. A process for plating aluminum alloy substrates with iron
consisting of the following steps, each step followed by a
water rinse:
(a) treating said aluminum substrate with a zincate bath
to deposit an immersion layer of zinc metal thereon;
(b) plating on said zincate-treated aluminum surface a
layer of nickel from an electroless nickel bath;
(c) electroplating on said nickel layer a layer of iron
from an iron sulfate bath; and
(d) electroplating on said iron layer a layer of tin from
an alkaline tin bath,
wherein said electroless nickel bath supersedes a copper
cyanide bath and said iron sulfate bath supersedes an iron
chloride bath, said electroless nickel bath and said iron
sulfate bath as a first combination being substantially less
toxic than said copper cyanide bath and said iron chloride
bath as a second combination.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Ninagawa et al. (Ninagawa) 4,221,639 Sep. 09,
1980
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