US PATENT SUBCLASS 428 / 643
.~.~ Pb- and Sn-base components: alternative to or next to each other*

Current as of: June, 1999
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428 /   HD   STOCK MATERIAL OR MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES

544  DF  ALL METAL OR WITH ADJACENT METALS {31}
615  DF  .~ Composite; i.e., plural, adjacent, spatially distinct metal components (e.g., layers, joint, etc.) {15}
643.~.~ Pb- and Sn-base components: alternative to or next to each other* {1}
644  DF  .~.~.~> And next to Cu- or Fe-base component

DEFINITION

Classification: 428/643

(under subclass 615) Subject matter in which a component* having 40 percent or more of tin is adjacent a component* having 40 percent or more of lead, or in which a component* of the composite* may be either lead-base or tin-base or a combination of lead and tin which makes up 40 percent or more of the component, e.g., 30 percent lead and 30 percent tin.

(1) Note. This is an experimental "Markush"- type subclass designed to provide, for classification and search purposes, the kind of convenience and compactness offered by "Markush" claiming in patents, primarily by reducing the amount of cross-referencing which is required. So far as patent placement is concerned, a patent placed in a "Markush" subclass is not cross-referenced to subclasses which provide for species covered by the generic "Markush" subclass, although it may be desirable to cross-reference the patent to indented subclass on the basis of the combination of layers. Thus, a patent placed in this subclass (643) is not placed also in subclasses 645 or 646, although placement in subclasses 647 and/or 648 may be desirable for subject matter not covered by subclass 644.

As concerns search purposes, a search for an invention restricted to a species has its primary search field in the subclass devoted to the species, while the "Markush" subclass is a secondary search field; a search of which is mandatory when the primary field does not provide satisfactory documentation. Conversely, an invention involving a "Markush" group comprising two or more members, all of which are provided for in a "Markush" subclass, has its primary search field in that subclass and subordinate search fields in the subclasses providing for the species.

(2) Note. The alternativeness of the species must be according to the claims, but not be stated in a single claim; that is, a patent having one claim to a composite with a component having a base of one species, and a substantially identical claim to a composite with a component having a base of a second species, both species being provided for in the same "Markush" subclass, is classified in the "Markush" subclass.

(3) Note. The designation of a component* as a

"type-metal" or "tin-led solder" is sufficient for classification in this subclass (643), however, a designation merely as "solder" is not. Subclasses 686 and 927-933 have been provided as collection places for components designated in such merely functional terminology.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS 205, Electrolysis: Processes, Compositions Used Therein, and Methods of Preparing the Compositions,

252+, for coating from an aqueous bath with a lead- or tin-base alloy.

220, Receptacles,

62.11+, for a "tin" can lined with a coating.

427, Coating Processes,

312, and 313 for treating a lead or tin coating with a flux, and subclass 423 for immersion-type coating with tin, lead or zinc.