Appeal No. 2006-1951 Παγε 14
Application No. 10/392,140
teaches away from butt welding. Although Wenning does disclose
that with butt welding it is not possible to entirely exclude the
possibility of leaks (col. 1, line 34-48). However, this
disclosure is referring to prior art structures that relied upon
U or L shaped members. In this prior art structure, it was also
known to weld along adjoining flanges (col. 1, line 37). In this
prior art structure, the welding of overlapping flanges also
resulted in leaks (col. 1, lines 45-48).
In the invention of Wenning, which uses a cover 15 having a
bottom portion 16, the cover is formed by a deep drawing method
(col. 4, lines 49-52). We find no disclosure in Wenning, and
none has been brought to our attention by appellants, that would
suggest the deep drawn bottom member 15, 16, 17 would suffer from
a possible leakage problem because the embodiment of the
invention disclosed by Wenning only has straight weld lines,
unlike the U or L shaped structures of the prior art disclosed by
Wenning.
As broadly drafted, the claim is met by the offset facing
edges of the tubular element 14 of Wenning and the bottom 15, 16
and 17 which are welded in an offset fashion. We find nothing in
the language of claim 12 that would preclude the facing edges of
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