Appeal No. 2002-2154 Page 4
Application No. 09/217,496
F.2d 760, 772, 218 USPQ 781, 789 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1026
(1984).
All the claims under appeal recite in one manner or another the following
limitations: (1) pairs of opposed terminal ends of a rigid members are disposed in facing
relationships on respective adjacent hull sections; (2) at least one rigid elongated linear
shank member; (3) each said shank member spanning between a pair of facing
terminal ends and cooperating therewith to form a releasable rigid, load bearing
coupling between said adjacent sections; and (4) that cooperation between each
respective shank member and pair of facing terminal ends for all said hull sections
couples said hull sections into a rigid, load bearing unitary boat.
Morgan's invention relates to barges and, more particularly, to barges comprised
of a plurality of a modular float sections, assembled by drawing them together from a
spaced array, and releasably secured one to the other through separable alignment
pins and post tensioning cables. Figures 1 and 2 show a modular barge 10 which
includes a plurality of floating modules 12 and alignment bodies or pins 14 assembled
in an array and linked by elongated filaments in the form of cables threaded
therethrough. The modules 12 are watertight structures, each having a generally
rectangular transverse cross-sectional periphery defining a deck surface 18, a bottom
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