Appeal No. 2000-0533
Application No. 08/821,508
includes axially forcing a first member 70 against the end of
the tube such that the end is curved into the form of an arc,
as shown in Figure 4, and then inserting a flaring member 78
against the end of the arc to flatten the inwardly arched
portion 94 and the outwardly arched portion 92 of the arc
together, as shown in Figure 5, to form exterior and interior
parallel flanges and conical surfaces. The McIntosh method
does not include extrusion of an annular reduced resistance
bead extending from a conical surface of the flared end, as
required by the claims.
Currie (Figure 4, column 3, lines 5-16) discloses a
method of forming a raised annular portion 46 on the inner
surface of a flared end of a tube using a single double angle
flaring tool punch. The raised annular portion created by
this method is the point of intersection of two conical
portions or surfaces 40, 41 of different angularity and is not
a one-piece extension from either of these conical surfaces
40, 41 (or from a plane tangent to either of these conical
surfaces). Thus, the Currie method does not produce an
annular reduced resistance bead as a one-piece extension from
a plane defined by either of these conical surfaces, as
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