Appeal No. 2004-0753
Application No. 10/120,096
DISCUSSION
I. Grouping of claims
On page 5 in the main brief, the appellant states that
“[r]ejected claims 37-41, 43-50 and 52 stand or fall together.”
In accordance with this grouping, and pursuant to 37 CFR
§ 1.192(c)(7), we shall decide the appeal on the basis of
representative claim 37 alone, with claims 38 through 41, 43
through 50 and 52 standing or falling with claim 37.
II. The merits
Higham, the examiner’s primary reference, pertains to
“insulated vehicle bodies e.g. for the refrigerated transport of
food stuffs” (page 1, lines 6 and 7). To permit the use of mass
production techniques, the sidewalls of the vehicle bodies
consist of substantially identical wall modules assembled
together (see page 1, lines 20 through 40). As described by
Higham,
[t]he wall modules are preferably formed by an
outer and an inner skin of suitable material, for
example [aluminum] or [aluminum] alloy, the skins being
interconnected at the lateral edges of the modules. In
this way each wall module is a box shape in transverse
cross-section. Preferably, the box is filled with in
situ formed polyurethane foam. The in situ forming of
polyurethane foam not only provides excellent thermal
insulation properties, but effectively bonds the outer
and inner skins to each other over the entire area
thereof, thereby producing a particularly rigid panel
requiring only relatively thin outer and inner skins.
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007