Appeal No. 2006-1692 Παγε 14
Application No. 10/068,243
find nothing in the language of the claim that would limit the
roller to only being formed from a single piece of polymeric
material. Nor does the claim recite the type of polymeric
material used. What is required is that the roller be an
aircraft roller that has a burn rate of less than 4 inches per
minute.
Turning to Thompson, we find that the reference is directed
to a cargo roller for an airplane (col. 1, lines 4-6). The
economics of the air-freight industry demand that cargo aircraft
be capable of carrying the maximum possible freight load,
consistent with safe operation (col. 1, lines 7-9). This has led
to a demand for lighter-weight components as to allow carrying
additional cargo while keeping the total aircraft weight the same
(10-12). It was known to use a tubular aluminum shell with a
nylon tire molded onto the shell. This provided the desired
weight reduction, but abusive loads caused the nylon tire to
crack, leading to premature failure (col. 1, lines 21-25). An
object of the invention is to produce a cargo roller with a
molded nylon tire that will not be subjected to significant abuse
in the presence of an overload on the roller (col. 1, lines 38-
41). The cargo roller has a rigid tubular body 10 covered by a
solid tire 17 of plastic material such as nylon (col. 1, line 60
Page: Previous 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007