Appeal No. 2003-1941
Application No. 09/981,100 Page 2
BACKGROUND
Appellant's invention relates to a method for bonding metal
components after alkali solution washing and water washing steps,
each component having a surface with an oxide layer. The method
may be used for forming a hollow fan blade. An understanding of
the invention can be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 1,
which is reproduced below.
1. A method for bonding metal components, comprising
the steps of:
providing metal components to be bonded together at
contacting surfaces, said contacting surfaces having an
oxide layer;
washing said components with an alkali solution to
provide alkali-washed components having said oxide layer at
said surfaces;
washing said alkali-washed components with water to
provide water-washed components having said oxide layer at
said surfaces; and
bonding said components together at said surfaces.
In addition to alleged admitted prior art (APA) set forth at
pages 1 and 2 of appellant’s specification and figure 1 of the
drawings, the prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Porter et al. (Porter) 5,063,662 Nov. 12, 1991
Groll 6,427,904 Aug. 06, 2002
(PCT filed Jan. 29, 1999)
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