Appeal No. 2002-2065 Page 7
Application No. 09/398,688
then welding the ends of the metal element to the outer wall of the vessel. As
illustrated in Figure 1, an annular metal rim 11 is substantially entirely encapsulated in
the annular polymer rim 10, with metal rim ends 12 and 19 protruding in order to be
welded to the outer wall of the vessel.
While it is true that the GE 085 arrangement results in an inwardly oriented
polymer ring portion, in our opinion there are two reasons why the artisan would not
have found suggestion to combine the references in the manner proposed by the
examiner. First, GE 085 does not deal with the situation wherein the polymer ring is
attached to the vessel by means including an interlocking arcuate section, such as that
shown in GB 032 at 3 and 15. In the absence of the mention of such an attachment
system in the secondary reference, the conclusion that providing the attachment system
disclosed therein would solve a problem in the primary reference, that is, be an
improvement thereto, is mere speculation. Second, and continuing further on this
theme, GE 085 teaches one of ordinary skill in the art that the solution to problems in
attaching the polymer rings to the vessels is to embed metal rings therein and then weld
the rings to the vessels. This is contrary to the objective of GB 032, which is to provide
a ring that is removable (page 1, lines 40-45), whether attached by means of the
interaction of curved portions on the rings and on the tanks (Figures 1-3), or when
attached by the means specified in the other embodiments. To follow the teachings of
GE 085 in modifying GB 032 would necessitate that the objective of removable polymer
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007