US 3744868

I'll search for this specific patent number in the USPTO and CAFC records.

The CAFC docket search returned no results. Let me verify with additional USPTO and CAFC-specific searches.

Let me do one more targeted check for any CAFC docket activity and the official USPTO record.

Based on my searches, here is the summary. Important note on identifier integrity: the searches confirm that US3744868 is distinct from EP3744868 (Nippon Steel, "Grain-oriented electrical steel sheet") and JP3744868 (a brushless-motor circuit patent) — those are unrelated documents that merely share the publication number "3744868" in different offices. I have excluded them per your instruction not to return similar numbers.

US Patent 3,744,868 — Summary

Abstract (verbatim): "A cabinet or a piece of furniture, preferably cabinets in a wall system, wherein the side and top walls are made of laminated square elongated members and the joints of these wall members are curved and made up of short curved laminated members having cross section similar to the cross section of the elongated wall laminated members with the grain in the wall laminated members and in the curved joint members running longitudinally and substantially parallel."

Technology in brief: The invention solves the problem that rounded wood furniture corners are hard to make with matching grain. Instead of one curved piece (whose grain runs transversely to the adjacent panels), the corner is built from short curved laminated strips whose grain runs longitudinally, matching the grain direction of the wall panels, which themselves are built from square laminated strips (~7/8 inch). This is economical because the curved pieces are cut from stock no more than ~1.5 inches thick.

Claims overview

There are 5 claims, but only one independent claim (claim 1); claims 2–5 depend from claim 1 (claims 4–5 depend from claim 1 directly per the claim text; claim 5 depends from claim 4).

• Claim 1 (independent): A furniture construction having at least two panel members that meet at an exteriorly curved corner joint member with a longitudinal axis of curvature. The joint is made of several narrow laminated members, each lying in planes at right angles to the axis of curvature. The wood grain in both the panels and the narrow joint laminations runs substantially in the same direction — at right angles to the center of curvature. In plain language: a rounded-corner furniture piece where the corner is built from thin laminated slats, all with grain oriented consistently with the adjacent panels so the wood pattern flows around the curve.

• Claim 2 (dependent): The narrow laminated joint members are no more than 1.5 inches wide. Limits the lamination width to enable economical curved cutting.

• Claim 3 (dependent): The panel members themselves are also made of elongated laminated members, each extending in planes at right angles to the corner joint's axis of curvature; the panel laminations are no wider than the joint laminations, and each lamination's grain runs longitudinally, substantially parallel to the grain of the corresponding curved joint lamination. Requires matching strip construction and grain continuity across both walls and corners.

• Claim 4 (dependent): Four flat wall members with corner joint members joining each wall form a cabinet. Narrows the construction to a four-sided cabinet.

• Claim 5 (dependent): The cabinet is of the wall-suspended type — mountable on rails attached to a vertical wall, with a bracket that engages fastening means (pins) on the rails. Narrows to the wall-system hanging cabinet embodiment shown in the drawings.

CAFC 2026 docket check

I searched the CAFC docket for this patent number (including a site:cafc.uscourts.gov search) and found no CAFC 2026 docket entries involving US 3,744,868. Given the patent expired in 1990 and is a 1972-era furniture patent, this is unsurprising. I could not confirm any pending litigation or appeal.

Sources: Google Patents (patents.google.com/patent/US3744868/en — authoritative full text, fetched 2026-08-27) and FreePatentsOnline (freepatentsonline.com/3744868.html), which corroborate the bibliographic data, abstract, and claims.

Caveats: The USPTO's current database (Patent Center/Public Search) could not be directly queried in my searches, so my bibliographic data relies on Google Patents and FreePatentsOnline mirrors of the USPTO record; these agree with each other and with the supplied full-text document. I have no authoritative confirmation of a CAFC 2026 case because none surfaced in the searches.