Appeal No. 98-0336
Application 08/761,014
corresponding to the maximum amount of energy
that the spring is able to absorb prior to
the compression of the spring, the spring
will deflect thereby opening and/or relaxing
the valve 12 to release the energy of the
fluid pushing on the piston to thereby
provide a dampening force to the system which
was created by the movement of the piston 3
that is attached to the moving structure to
be damped. [Page 4.]
This position is also unpersuasive. While Kobori's
dampening device remains "hydraulically locked" until a
sufficient force P1 is exerted on the valve spool 27 to overcome
the bias of spring 28 (see column 6, lines 33 et seq.), there is
no means for "determining when a predetermined amount of energy
is stored . . . by movement of said structure" (claim 1;
emphasis added) or "a sensor coupled to said resettable truss
element for determining energy stored in said truss element"
(claim 15; emphasis added).
The rejections of claims 1-6, 8, 11-13 and 15-20 under
35 U.S.C. § 103(e) and claims 7, 9, 10 and 14 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) are reversed.
REVERSED
6
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007