Appeal No. 2004-0929
Application No. 09/386,103
Allison ‘756 discloses a thermally conductive cylinder which
has alternating ridges and troughs and can be slipped over vacuum
tubes and similar electronic components (col. 3, lines 9-29).
The examiner relies upon the envelope (16) of the vacuum tube as
being the appellants’ heat conductive rod (answer, pages 3
and 7). The tube envelope is part of the heat transferring
assembly, the examiner argues, because heat is not produced by
the tube envelope but, rather, is generated inside the tube
(answer, page 7).
The tube envelope, however, is an essential element of the
vacuum tube because without it, there could be no vacuum. Hence,
the tube envelope cannot reasonably be considered part of the
heat sink assembly. Consequently, we reverse the rejection under
35 U.S.C. § 102(b) of claims 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 14-17 over
Allison ‘756.
Rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) over Grandmont
Grandmont discloses a heat sink assembly comprising a heat
exchanging section including a metal sheet folded into
alternating ridges and valleys such that the valleys form an
inner segmented cylinder and the ridges form an outer segmented
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