Appeal No. 2000-1304
Application No. 08/994,974
are] concerned, i.e.[,] salvaging a worn cylindrical component
by removing the worn portion of the component and replacing it
with a cylindrical sleeve” (answer, page 8).
The examiner’s position here is persuasive. The
salvaging method disclosed by Sheen clearly is reasonably
pertinent to the particular problem with which the appellants
were involved, i.e., providing “an efficient, inexpensive,
effective technique for repairing or restoring the hub of a
torque converter housing . . . [wherein] [t]he hub is
turned to a smaller outer diameter than its original size and
a sleeve . . . is fitted to the turned outer hub surface”
(appellants’ specification, page 3). Thus, Sheen constitutes
analogous art which was properly considered by the examiner in
assessing the obviousness of the subject matter on appeal.
Moreover, and notwithstanding the appellants’ various
arguments to the contrary, the cost and efficiency benefits
implied by Sheen would have provided the artisan with ample
suggestion to modify the substantially cylindrical hub of the
admitted prior art torque converter wheel by fitting and
fixing a right circular hollow cylindrical sleeve to the outer
surface of the hub, thereby arriving at the methods recited in
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