Appeal No. 2000-1938
Application 08/940,467
When water is present in a brake disc
assembly a substantial decrease in braking
torque occurs. This decrease is the result
of a loss of friction coefficient due to the
build up of steam between the opposing brake
discs.
Appellants do not contend that the fact stated in the
first sentence was their discovery. It is such a
widely known phenomenon we could take judicial notice
of it. The second sentence is a mere statement of fact
without any indication of who discovered that fact.
The specification does not say appellants discovered
it. Counsel have seized upon it as the basis for their
argument, but that is not enough; there must be some
evidence of record by way of affidavits or
declarations, or at least a clear and persuasive
assertion in the specification, that the fact relied on
to support patentability was the discovery of the
applicants for patent. For all that appears from the
record in this case, appellants were reciting a fact
already known to those working in the art.
Wiseman, 596 F.2d at 1022-23, 201 USPQ at 661.
On the other hand, we do find ourselves in agreement with
Appellants' argument (Brief at 11-12) that one skilled in the art
would not have found in Figure 2 of Fritschi, which shows
circuitry for controlling the pickup coil in an electromagnet
having a pickup coil and a holding coil (col. 1, 11. 5-9), any
suggestion of placing a capacitor in parallel with a zener diode
in order to round off its kink point and thereby reduce its
discharge rate, as contended by the examiner. Specifically, the
examiner, apparently relying on the parallel connection of
capacitor 19 and zener diode 20, contends that
it is well-known in the art to use a zener/capacitor
parallel combination as a breakdown protection circuit
(note Fig. 2 of [Fritschi]) for the well-known purpose
of being able to control the rate of breakover current
when the zener breaks down, i.e., those skilled in the
art know that without the parallel capacitor, the
- 7 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007