Appeal No. 2001-0096
Application 09/301,891
REPRESENTATIVE CLAIM
Claim 13, which is illustrative of the subject matter on appeal, reads as follows:
13. A bonded composite structure having a joint reinforced with Z-direction
reinforcement, comprising:
(a) at least two fiber-reinforced resin composite elements arranged to define
a bondline along an interface between the elements, each element being
a laminate having a plurality of plies, each ply having fiber reinforcement
defining an X-Y plane;
(b) a composite strip having cured resin and having X-Y fiber reinforcement,
the strip being positioned along the bondline between the elements, the
X-Y fiber reinforcement in the strip being confined to the bondline;
(c) Z-direction reinforcement extending at least from the strip into one
element to reinforce a joint between the strip and that element, the Z-
direction reinforcement having an areal density in the range from
0.5 – 2.0% in the bondline;
(d) bonds containing resin between the strip and each element along the
bondline to define the joint.
THE REFERENCES
In rejecting the appealed claims under obviousness-type double patenting,
the Examiner relies on the following references:
Alston et al. (Alston) 5,868,886 Feb. 9, 1999
(filed Dec. 22, 1995)
Pannell (Pannell) 5,935,698 Aug. 10, 1999
(filed Mar. 7, 1997)
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