Appeal No. 2004-1666 Page 5
Application No. 09/586,912
Grannis discloses a load-bearing pad for supporting items such as transformers,
switchgear and air conditioning units in a housing 12. As shown in Figure 2, a cableway
70 is provided in the pad, through which cables 72 pass from beneath the surface of the
ground into housing 12, and an “appropriate filler material 94" is disposed in the opening
“to prevent rodents and other small animals from entering” the housing (column 5, lines
24-27). The filler material is disclosed as being “a mixture of epoxy resin and soil
particles, the latter contributing a certain degree of brittleness or breakability to the filler
material” so that “the cured filler material 94 may be broken and removed from the
cableway 70 without difficulty if such action is ever necessary in order to service cables
72 or remove the installed unit” (column 5, lines 28-35). There is no stated concern in
Grannis for the problem of insects entering the housing or for placing any chemical
additive in the filler material, much less an insecticide.
Isgur discloses a composite sheet useful for such end products as drapery
backing, upholstery backing, blankets, absorptive padding, wall coverings, acoustical
panels, and other protective surfaces such as apparel and shoe linings (column 6, lines
34-44). The sheet comprises particles of polyurethane foam and fibers intertwined with
the foam and binding the mixture together. The sheet is compressible and resilient, but
there is no teaching that it is suitable for being positioned in an opening to seal around
objects extending therethrough. Isgur does, however, teach that insecticides may be
combined into the sheet (column 6, lines 9-14).
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Last modified: November 3, 2007