Appeal No. 1997-0854
Application No. 08/292,846
of forced cooling air urged through the plenum by the fan,"
which plenum is formed by plates which support the air heaters
and reciprocatable tools. The examiner's statement that "the
use of any suitable cooling means to effectively maintain the
staking tool at a temperature cooler than the solidification
point of the studs is considered within the purview of one of
ordinary skill in the art" (page 2 of Answer) does not
establish the obviousness of the particularly claimed method
of cooling the reciprocatable tools in the recited method of
hot staking workpieces. We cannot countenance the summary
rejection of any and all methods of cooling reciprocatable
tools of hot staking processes.
We now turn to the remaining claims on appeal which fail
to recite any cooling of the reciprocatable tools. In
essence, we are in full agreement with the examiner that it
would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art
to automate the hot staking method of wells, as modified by
Loren, to facilitate controlling the air flow, the amount of
heat delivered to the thermally softenable studs, and the
timing of the reciprocatable tools. We simply find no error
in the examiner's reasoning that:
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