Appeal No. 2003-2153 Page 4
Application No. 09/632,160
not make such a modification obvious unless the prior art suggested the desirability of
the modification. See In re Gordon, 773 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed.
Cir. 1984).
Teachings of the applied prior art
Hager
Hager's invention relates to fiber optic cables and the structure for reinforcing the
tensile and compressive strength characteristics of the optical fibers contained within
the fiber optic cables. Specifically, his invention is directed toward an improved
structure for use in low fiber-count cable construction. Figures 1-2 depict an optical
fiber cable constructed in accordance with Hager's invention. The optical fiber cable
consisting of at least one optical fiber 10 sheathed by a yarn 20 composed of synthetic
staple fibers wrapped around a glass core. The yarn enclosed fiber optic cable is then
covered with a reinforcing jacket 30 preferably composed of polyethylene. The
reinforcing yarn is made by spinning any number synthetic staple fibers around the
glass core in a process known by the trademark DREF®. The resulting cable structure
is a flexible reinforced cable which, when heated, will become rigid and have high
tensile and compressive strength characteristics. Upon heating, the DREF® yarn 20
wrapping melts into the outer polyethylene jacket 30 thereby forming an integral
reinforcing jacket. This dielectric cable is then capable of easy installation and upon
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