Appeal No. 2004-2324
Application No. 10/226,852
The examiner relies upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
Loshigian 3,443,020 May 6, 1969
Hale et al. (Hale) 3,611,976 Oct. 12, 1971
Nesbitt 6,369,125 Apr. 9, 2002
(filed Dec. 23, 1999)
Appellant's claimed invention is directed to a marine
fairing made from a material, such as a polyether-based
thermoplastic polyurethane, that has a number of recited
properties, e.g., a specific gravity of approximately 1.0 to 1.2
gr/cc (claim 1). A "fairing" is a generally teardrop shaped
device that is attached to cables towed by vessels in water.
Fairings ameliorate the detrimental effects of hydrodynamic
forces acting on the cable being towed. Rigid fairings maintain
their shape while being subjected to such hydrodynamic forces but
"are prone to crushing if spooled onto a drum under subsequent
layers of cable" (page 2 of Brief, third paragraph). According
to appellant, the fairings of the present invention solve the
problem by being "made from a material such that the fairing is
rigid enough to maintain its shape while in use in the water, but
flexible enough to be left on the cable and spooled onto a drum
without damage" (page 2 of Brief, last paragraph).
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