Appeal 2007-4307
Application 10/173,095
show they knew to use resins cured together to perform both functions.
Resin already on the fibers or additional resin could be used.
Nakanishi shows that those in the art could make and use epoxy-
nitrile rubber-phenolic resin compositions. They would know that such
resins could be used in making fiber-reinforced plastics or as superior metal
adhesives.
Overall, the references and the background of the specification reveal
considerable sophistication in the construction of acoustic panels for jet
engines and in the use of resins in their construction.
Objective evidence of secondary considerations
Airbus does not rely on any objective evidence of secondary
considerations.51 We acknowledge the statement52 in the specification
that—
It thus was discovered, in an unexpected manner, that when
acoustic damping panels of the type mentioned above, are made
with a honeycomb core flanked, on the one side, by a total
reflector and, on the other side, by an acoustically resistive
layer with two components according to the invention, that the
presence of elastomer in the composition of the coating bath 1
leads to an elastic damping effect permitting absorbing the
forces generated by shocks on the panel or during the use of
these latter (torsion, flexure, etc . . . ), these forces being
absorbed in a manner that could not be achieved by the
thermosetting resin because of its fragility. This is as much the
properties of adherence of the nitrile-phenolic cement which are
enjoyed, as its elastic properties.
51 Br. 12.
52 Spec. 10:21-11:2.
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