Appeal No. 2002-1954
Application No. 09/458,926
extending fiber rovings 38 in the neck portion 9 (see column 4,
lines 3 through 26).
Tracking the language employed in claim 1, Bohannan’s
baseball bat comprises a core (filling 42) having a barrel
portion, a handle portion narrower than the barrel portion and a
longitudinal axis extending through the barrel and handle
portions, continuous first fibers (any one of fiber rovings 20,
24, 28 and 32) wound around the core barrel portion at an angle
of about 0° to 90° relative to a first plane normal to the
longitudinal axis to provide at least one layer of first fibers
around the core barrel portion, continuous second fibers (any
different one of fiber rovings 20, 24, 28 and 32) wound around
the core handle portion to provide at least one layer of second
fibers around the core handle portion, and a resin (the
thermoplastic resin) impregnated on the first and second fibers.
The appellants’ contention (see pages 3 through 6 in the
brief) that these limitations are not met because Bohannan’s
fiber layers are sandwiched (laminated) together and extend the
length of the core is unconvincing. Claim 1 does not contain any
limitation requiring the first and second fibers to be in direct
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007