Appeal No. 2001-0888 Page 2
Application No. 08/790,559
bladder and caul sheet to form an uncured body. In another embodiment, the method
comprises the steps of providing a mandrel body having one or more fluid openings
along with a mandrel body fluid system capable of supplying pressurized fluid and a
vacuum to said one or more openings, and placing a plurality of fibers around the outer
surface of the mandrel body to form an uncured body. This appealed subject matter is
adequately illustrated by representative claims 20 and 33 which read as follows:
20. A method useful in forming a composite body, comprising the steps of:
providing a mandrel body having an outer surface;
positioning a bladder having outer and inner surfaces around said mandrel body;
said bladder having at least one caul sheet section coupled to said outer surface of said
bladder; and
placing a plurality of fibers around said bladder and caul sheet to form an
uncured body.
33. A method useful in forming a composite body, comprising the steps of:
providing a tool useful in forming a composite body, said tool comprising:
a mandrel body having an outer surface, said mandrel body having an
elongated shape and a longitudinal axis and having one or more fluid openings defined
in said mandrel body outer surface;
a mandrel body fluid system capable of supplying pressurized fluid and a
vacuum to said one or more openings in said mandrel body outer surface; and
placing a plurality of fibers around said outer surface of said mandrel body to
form an uncured body, said fibers being placed around said mandrel body in a plurality
of discontinuous segments juxtaposed in relation to each other such that said
discontinuous segments are capable of moving in relation to each other such that said
uncured body is expandable from within.
The references relied upon by the examiner as evidence of obviousness are:
VonVolkli 4,780,262 Oct. 25, 1988
Azzani et al. (Azzani) 5,013,514 May 7, 1991
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