Appeal No. 2002-2090
Application 08/430,311
tensile strength for the fibrous concrete of the upper layer well
below 750 psi as claimed by appellant.
As a fall back position, the examiner has also rejected
claims 57 through 63, 65, 66 and 69 through 78 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Givens based on the
conclusion that
it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill
in the art to add short wire elements in the upper half of
the panel of Given, Jr. in the amount such that the upper
half has a tensile strength less than about 750 pounds per
square inch as recited because Given, Jr. explicitly
disclose that the short wire segments in the upper half
layer do not impart significant tensile strength to the
fibrous-concrete because of their won [sic] tensile strength
(see column 6, lines 8-14), especially when considering that
Givens, Jr. further discloses that concrete per se has a
tensile strength of only ‘150 to 200 lbs/sq. in. in seven
days and of 225 to 300 lbs/sq. in. in 30 days’.
An important aspect of this case is the determination of
exactly what appellant means when he uses the term “plain
concrete.” As we noted earlier, a definition of this term is
found on page 26 of the specification, and reads as follows:
‘Plain concrete’ is structural concrete in which the
concrete is designed to carry all the flexural tensile
stresses and any reinforcing material, when present, is
assumed not to carry any flexural tensile stress. A ‘plain
concrete’ structure is characterized as a structure whose
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