Opinion ID: 403697
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Scope of the Prior Art.

Text: 24 Evidence of several prior art patents was presented in the district court. Mortimer Patent, No. 1,891,626, issued in 1932, appears to be the most relevant prior art vis-a-vis the Mitchell patent. 25 Both Mitchell and Mortimer may be characterized as combination patents 6 for a system for the manufacture of precast planks or slabs. 7 Both patents contemplate four primary structural elements (1) a movable casting bed or mobile carriage with side forms equipped for pivotal movement at the horizontal axes from vertical or outwardly inclined positions for removal of the cured members; (2) a track running beneath a stationary casting apparatus or feed spout; (3) a means for moving the casting bed; and (4) a stationary casting means or feed spout. The Mitchell system claims a curing area and an unloading-overrun area on opposite sides of the manufacturing area in a collinear relationship. The Mortimer patent specification discusses a curing area or part of the plant where the slabs may set adjacent to a manufacturing area, and some sort of unloading area is inherent in any product manufacturing process based on an assembly-line format such as that disclosed in the Mortimer patent. See In re Agger, 249 F.2d 895, 897 (C.C.P.A.1957); Brand v. Thomas, 96 F.2d 301, 303 (C.C.P.A.1938) (doctrine of inherency). 26 Thus, Mortimer Patent No. 1,891,626 issued in 1932 taught the use of a casting system utilizing a moving casting bed on tracks with longitudinally extended sideforms having pivotal movement at the horizontal axes for ejection of cured materials and a stationary feed spout for pouring plastic material into the forms. In addition, the Kinnard Patent No. 3,217,375 filed in 1962 teaches the process for producing prestressed hollow-core concrete, and is explicitly incorporated into the Mitchell system. Brown Patent No. 2,970,361 issued in 1961 disclosed a means of molding elongated panels and objects of concrete, or other self hardening material, with core openings extending their full length and utilizing a moving mold mounted on a horizontal track propelled by motor-driven link chain. The first Kinnard application filed in 1960 discloses a method and apparatus for continuously forming a hollow concrete member of plastic material which includes a trough-like casting bed on a carriage frame with pivoting longitudinal side walls adapted to moving longitudinally by any convenient means, such as a cable, to a stationary hopper frame and then to a curing area. 27