Appeal No. 1998-1537
Application No. 08/134,916
We will first consider the rejection of claim 1, which
reads:
1. A composite light weight vehicle frame,
comprising, a plurality of composite tubes disposed in
spaced frame defining configuration and joined by a
plurality of thin single wall, hollow, low void, all
composite lugs, said lug wall consisting essentially
of a plurality of fiber laminations in a substantially
solid, cured resin matrix.
The basis of the rejection is stated at page 4 of the
examiner's answer as:
Tseng teaches using composite materials to form
tubing 2, 3, 5, and lugs for a bicycle. The lugs also
include two cylindrical portions (one portion being the
internal plugs at 11, 12, and the other portion forming
part of the exterior of the frame, once assembled).
The plug portion includes splines 13.
Tseng is silent regarding the type of composite
material used.
Kyokai teaches using a fiber reinforced composite
material for forming bicycle frames including each of the
frame lugs g, I [sic: i], h, j. It teaches compacting
the fiber-epoxy mix in a clamp and heating the material
so that it reaches a 60% fiber content by weight (see page 5
of the translation) and attains greater strength then [sic:
than] certain metal frames. The frame lug parts are
hollow and cylindrical (as shown in Figure 1). A metal
core is inserted during manufacture, then removed to
produce completely hollow lug portions.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill
in the art to manufacture the Tseng frame out of high
strength, low void, fiber reinforced composites, as taught
by Kyokai, in order to attain high strength and lower
weight frames.
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