Appeal No. 2002-0500 Page 19
Application No. 09/258,320
step section in the fan being larger than the inner diameter of the bell mouth 18."
(Supp. Examiner's Answer at 7.) The appellants argue, "Mitsuyasu does not have a
bellmouth." (Appeal Br. at 11.)
Claim 16 specifies in pertinent part the following limitations: "a bell mouth is
provided on the side wall of said frame overlying an outer edge of said fan; and wherein
a step section is provided on an outer edge of said fan, said bell mouth overlying said
step section." Giving the representative claim its broadest, reasonable construction, the
limitations require a step section on an outer edge of a fan and a member overlaying
the step section.
Turning to the prior art, we find that Mitsuyasu discloses a step section on an
outer edge of a fan as a concave "step part (17) . . . formed at the outside part at the
upper edge of the fan (16)." Mitsuyasu Translation, p. 7. We further find that a
member overlays the step part. Specifically, "[t]his concave step part (17) is positioned
below [a] fan slip-off stopper member (12)." Id. Shaft (3) of the rotor (2) does not slip-
off from the sleeve (4) since the fan (16) contacts the fan slipoff stopper member (12).
Id. at 8. Therefore, we affirm the obviousness rejection of claim 16 and of claims 17,
34, 35, 38, and 39, which fall therewith.
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