Appeal No. 2003-1303 6
Application No. 09/351,166
and a drilling apparatus that includes a device, as called for in claims 6 and 8,
for eliminating influences of mechanical play due to structures of said
adjacent cylinder comprising support members adapted to exert tangential
forced on said adjacent cylinder [emphasis added.]
It is the examiner’s position that Hakala’s drilling apparatus exerts at least some
tangential force on the adjacent cylinder s2 “due to such as the gravity forces of the
support member (21), and the cutting forces on the tools (17)” (answer, page 5).
Appellants respond (main brief, pages 10-13) that Hakala discloses an
apparatus for drilling holes that operates between two opposed cylinders whose center
axes are aligned with, or arranged parallel to, drill bits 17 of the drilling apparatus, such
that the drill bits 17 and drill guide 19 of Hakala move radially to drill radial holes into the
mantle of cylinder s1. Thus, appellants submit that there is no basis for concluding that
Hakala’s apparatus would exert a tangential force on the adjacent cylinder s2 during the
drilling operation, and that there is no express disclosure in Hakala of support members
arranged to exert a tangential force on adjacent cylinder s2 for this purpose. As to the
examiner’s assertion that tangential gravitational forces are applied to cylinder s2 of
Hakala by the weight of the drilling apparatus, appellants argue (main brief, pages 14-
15) that while Hakala’s drilling apparatus may exert a tangential force on cylinder s2
due to its weight, independent claims 1, 6 and 8 do not simply call for a tangential force
to be exerted on the adjacent cylinder, but also that said tangential force is such that
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