Appeal No. 1999-2145 Page 9
Application No. 08/781,605
device could be utilized to restore the burst strength of a pipe having an unbreached
weakened area, the problem to which the present application is directed. As stated on
page 2 of that report:
Assuming a repair is feasible using the composite reinforcement technology,
the defect is filled with a filler that allows load transfer between the pipe and
the composite reinforcement. The composite is then wound around the pipe
over the defect. Adhesive is applied between the composite layers as
wrapping proceeds such that an essentially monolithic reinforcement is
formed after the adhesive has cured. The pipeline is then returned to its
approved operating pressure (emphasis added).
This is different from the method of placing discrete adhesive globs between the
convolutions which was disclosed as the method of installing the device as a crack
arrestor, and appears to be the reason that it can successfully be used to restore the burst
strength of an unbreached but weakened section of a pipe. We note that the date of this
report has not been stated on its face or in the declaration, but it can be presumed to be
prior to the filing date of the present application, in that the letter from Mr. Wilke of the Gas
Research Institute (Exhibit B to the 1995 Fawley declaration) congratulating Mr. Fawley on
developing this repair technique is dated March 20, 1995, and the waiver allowing the use
of the invention in the field granted by the Department of Transportation Research and
Special Programs Administration (Exhibit F to the 1995 Fawley declaration) was issued in
February of 1995. It also is noteworthy, in this regard, that in the Oct. 9, 1995, issue of Oil
& Gas Journal (Exhibit G to the 1995 Fawley declaration) there appears an article on the
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