Appeal 2007-0585
Application 10/338,813
1 final assembly (col. 5, ll. 6-13). The upper tier decks are supported on V-shaped
2 box beams that are welded to the container’s side and end walls and cooperate with
3 other components to satisfy the container’s strength requirements (Fylling, col. 1,
4 ll. 32-41).
5 Lewin discloses “a railroad car with adjustable floor and roof sections that
6 allow a user to convert the car from a tri-level to a bi-level car or to a single level
7 car, and to reduce the overall height of the car, while lowering the car’s center of
8 gravity and alleviating the problem of route height restrictions” (Lewin, col. 1, ll.
9 42-47). Lewin discloses (Lewin, col. 2, ll. 54-64):
10 A typical loading procedure is accomplished by raising the entire
11 second floor, or part of it, and loading the bottom level first. Next, the
12 second floor is lowered to the minimum clearance, locked in place and then
13 loaded. After this, the third level is lowered, locked in place and then
14 loaded. Finally, the roof is lowered, locked in place and the access doors
15 closed. To unload the vehicles, the loading steps are simply performed in
16 reverse order.
17 In another embodiment of the invention, the second and third floors
18 may be hinged to allow the loading of smaller vehicles without the need to
19 raise or lower the entire floor.
20
21 The Appellants argue that Lewin’s disclosure that the described floor and
22 roof assemblies are an integral part of the car structure (Lewin, col. 3, ll. 30-31)
23 limits the combination of Lewin with Fylling to a railcar having adjustable floors
24 (Br. 5). The Appellants further argue that combining Lewin and Fylling requires
25 adding a frame to Fylling that Fylling omits to reduce the container’s weight
26 (Reply Br. 4).
27 In the Background of the Invention section of the Appellants’ Specification,
28 the Appellants acknowledge that hinged end sections have been used in the art on
29 the decks of the second level tiers of tri-level auto rack railcars to obtain increased
3
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Last modified: September 9, 2013