Appeal No. 2003-0867 Page 8
Application No. 09/688,104
Teachings of Junginger
Junginger's invention relates to a door for a vehicle and, in particular, to an
upwardly folding vehicle door to selectively close, for example, a rear opening in a
vehicle body. The folding door has a lower panel that is pivotally connected to an upper
panel. The lower panel pivots inwardly and upwardly toward the upper section to effect
opening.
Junginger teaches in the BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION section (column
1, lines 39-49) that
most known upwardly folding doors are relatively heavy because they have inner
and outer structural panels stamped from steel that are hemmed and spot
welded along peripheral, flanged edges to form a door. The plastic door
mentioned above reduces weight, but sacrifices durability by using a living plastic
hinge. Using plastic as a structural component reduces the overall stiffness and
strength of the door. Thus, the conventional folding doors do not provide light
weight without sacrificing bending stiffness and impact strength.
Junginger teaches in the SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION section (column 2,
lines 8-24) that
[t]he upper and lower sections have upper and lower frames, respectively.
Each frame is preferably cast from magnesium to reduce door weight up to 40%
compared to conventional designs. However, the present design does not
sacrifice bending stiffness and impact strength to achieve such a substantial
weight reduction. Cast magnesium provides an increased ductility that improves
overall toughness of the door. Moreover, certain features are integrally formed
with the frames to reduce the total number of parts and their associated
assembly time. For instance, an accessory mount and central hinge
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