Application of Heritage

• Decision Date: 28 June 1950
• Docket Number: Patent Appeals No. 5665,5666.
• Citation: 86 USPQ 160,182 F.2d 639
• Parties: Application of HERITAGE (two cases).
• Court: U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA)

86 USPQ 160, 182 F.2d 639 (1950)

Application of HERITAGE (two cases).

Patent Appeals Nos. 5665, 5666.

United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

April 3, 1950.

Rehearing Denied June 28, 1950.

W. Bartlett Jones, Chicago, Ill. (Ivan P. Tashof, Washington, D. C., of counsel), for appellant.

E. L. Reynolds, Washington, D. C. (H. S. Miller, Washington, D. C., of counsel), for Commissioner of Patents.

Before GARRETT, Chief Judge, and JACKSON, O'CONNELL, and JOHNSON, Associate Judges.

JACKSON, Judge.

Appellant separately appeals from two decisions by the Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office, affirming decisions of the Primary Examiner, finally rejecting all of the claims, 52 to 55, inclusive, 68, 70 and 74 to 81, inclusive, of an application, serial No. 294,212, filed September 9, 1939, "For Insulation of Confined Spaces," and all of the claims, 21 to 27, inclusive, of an application, serial No. 477,751, filed March 2, 1943, as a continuation-in-part of the former application.

For the reason that the appeals bear such close relationship, they will be decided in a single opinion.

Appeal No. 5665 — Serial No. 294,212.

The claims in this appeal were rejected for want of patentability over the following cited prior art:

                  Moller    1,756,468  April 29, 1930
                  Tannery   1,827,858  October 20, 1931
                  Finck     1,923,195  August 22, 1933
                  Tappen    1,971,123  August 21, 1934
                  Ericson
                    et al.  2,200,713  May 14, 1940
                  Wenzel    2,235,542  March 18, 1941.
                

The claims were further rejected on the ground of undue multiplicity.

All of the claims are for method. Claims 52 and 80 are illustrative of the involved subject matter and read as follows:

"52. The method of introducing thermal insulation material into a space to fill said space with said material for using said filled space as thermal insulation which comprises providing a confined space completely bounded by facial walls the total area of which has both perforate area and imperforate area, providing in said total area at least one inlet area while maintaining space-confining area in any facial wall having inlet area, providing in at least one of said facial walls predetermined filtering perforate area and filtering means covering said latter area, introducing into said confined space by conducting to and through the inlet area at an impelling velocity moving gas containing suspended particles of insulating material which pack to a consolidated gas-filtering body, the velocity of said moving gas and the location and size of said filtering area with respect to inlet area all being such as to carry particles with turbulence to all portions of the confined space, continuing said introduction and completely packing said space at least to the inlet area with particles packed to a consolidated gas-filtering body of said insulating material, said filtering area serving to retain the particles and to release the gas, and retaining said body in situ in said space as a confined insulating medium.

"80. In depositing particles to form insulation in situ in a refrigerator formed of inner and outer shells each with an open face together providing an opening for closure by door, which shells provide a continuous space between them opening through screening means into said door opening, one of said shells having an opening in its wall opposite said door opening to provide an introductory inlet to said space of size relatively large compared with the foramina of said screening means, the method which comprises, suspending in a moving gas, particles of insulating material which pack to a consolidated body that is a gas-filtering body at an insulating density of the so-packed particles; introducing the resulting moving gaseous suspension into said space by conducting the suspension to and through said introductory inlet; simultaneously venting said gas from said space through said screening means, and there filtering said vented gas from particles, thereby depositing and packing particles to form a growing gas-filtering mass thereof in corresponding portions of said space over and extending away from said screening means; simultaneously maintaining in the remaining portion of said space a condition of turbulence of said gaseous particle-suspension by maintaining a high and sufficient velocity therefor in introducing said suspension whereby the turbulence causes deposition and packing of particles in margins of the turbulent space; and continuing said introduction, said maintenance of turbulence, and said venting of said gas through said screening means and also through said growing mass at least until a body of said particles begins to form in said inlet and said space is completely packed with said particles consolidated to a gas-filtering body at an insulating density and resultingly molded into said space and compressed therein by the differential introduction pressure between said inlet and said screening means."

The application relates to a method of filling a confined space with felted fibers for the purpose of heat insulation. There is described a suspension of the fibers in an air stream of high velocity. The air stream in which the fibers are carried passes from the space through screened openings, the mesh of which is fine enough to prevent the escape of the fibers, which are retained against the screens until the fibers build up and completely fill the space. During the process, the air is said to be in turbulent motion so that the fibers are carried to all parts of the space, and because of high velocity and turbulence within the space, a felting of insulation is produced which is sufficiently dense so that there is no settling. The inlet opening and screened outlets may be in different parts of the enclosed space. In other words, they may be on the same face of the enclosure of the space, or on opposite faces, or around a corner from each other or in combination of those locations. It is said that the functioning of the process and production of the variations in the density of the insulated area depend upon the relation of the inlets and screened outlets.

It is stated in the decision of the Primary Examiner that the elected species herein is for a method of felting the hollow wall of a conventional refrigerator with insulation, and particularly to blowing such insulation as wood fiber into the hollow space.

The Moller reference has for its object the providing of an apparatus in which mats or bats of fibrous material are produced. The process comprises a fiber laden blast of air conveyed into a molded chamber in which the fibers become packed. The molding chamber has walls which are so constructed that the mat or bat may be produced in any desired space, size or contour in cross section. The top wall of the molding chamber is so perforated that the air coming into the chamber escapes through the perforated top, while an obstruction plate holds the fibers in the chamber until a sufficient bat has been formed to be maintained by fractional contact with the walls of the chamber when the plate is removed. The finished bat is removed from the chamber on an endless underlying belt.

The Tannery invention relates to mattress boxes or devices employed in the manufacture of cotton mattresses. A box is disclosed in which there are side panels with openings covered by a screened netting and the pyramidal top of the box has a vent opening covered with a screen netting. Cotton lint is upwardly blown into the box through an opening in a side wall. When sufficient lint has been blown into the box, the top is removed and a press lowered to compress the lint.

The Finck patent has to do with heat insulation structures such as household refrigerators, ice houses, railroad refrigerator cars, buildings, ships, etc., and claims both a heat insulating structure and a method of manufacturing the same. The insulating material of the patent consists of loose fibrous materials. A cross-sectional view of a panel form of insulation unit is disclosed in the drawings, with an opening on a side thereof through which the insulation passes, and when the hollow spaces in the panel become filled, the opening is closed by a cover plate. It is stated in the specification that air pressure is preferably employed in the process of filling the panel, which process packs the insulating material at a proper density. The patent discloses the hollow wall of a refrigerator filled with the insulating material by means of air pressure.

In the Finck patent, a copending application of the inventor is referred to. That application became abandoned and the disclosure thereof was not relied upon by the examiner in the present case.

The Tappen patent relates to means for filling inaccessible places, such as spaces under the decks of refrigerator ships and the roofs of refrigerator cars. Those spaces are said to be extensive, and at their ends and corners are inaccessible to hands or ordinary tools. The invention discloses means whereby material, such as granulated cork, is blown into the space until it is completely filled by the packed insulation, and means is provided to vent the space so that air may escape therefrom as the space is filled. A vent pipe is disclosed in the apparatus of the patent, extending through an opening in the lower wall of the space in the structural elements of a ship or a refrigerator car. The opening is temporarily closed by a sealing flange or collar through which there...