Appeal No. 1997-1230
Application 08/274,807
considers (answer, page 7) that it would have been obvious to
mold the hub of Sakaguchi with molding accuracies in the range
of five to ten micrometers as an obvious matter of routine
experimentation and/or optimization.
The examiner’s position with respect to difference (1) is
not well taken. First, Suzuki is directed to a completely
different type of recording medium (a cassette tape) and
addresses a completely different problem (deformation of the
hubs over time due to the compression force of wound tape
(translation, page 2)) as compared to Sakaguchi, which is
concerned primarily with reducing production costs. Second,5
there is nothing in Sakaguchi which would indicate that
compression strength of the hub (i.e., clamper 40) is of any
particular concern, or that increasing its compression
strength would be of any particular benefit. Third, Suzuki
does not disclose injection molding and it is not clear that
it would be feasible to use an injection molding process in
5An objective of Sakaguchi is to reduce manufacturing
costs by providing a clamp unit 26 wherein the magnetic plate
41 does not require the use of an ultrasonic welding process
in order to secure it to the clamper 40 (column 2, lines 3-
26).
8
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