Appeal No. 96-3893
Application 08/063,302
The tape-contacting front surface of each ferrite core half
includes a V-shaped channel 5 containing a magnetic metal
material 3 having a high-saturation magnetization characteristic
(col. 5, lines 26-33). The magnetic metal material (which is a
soft magnetic material) can be a magnetic alloy, such as an
amorphous alloy, Sendust, and permalloy, and can be formed in the
channel by sputtering or deposition (col. 5, lines 37-42). 3
The examiner contends the artisan would have been
motivated for the following reasons to replace Terada's ferrite
blocks 9 with films of soft ferrite magnetic material (Answer at
4-5):
It was notoriously old and well known in the art that a
ferrite material may be a soft magnetic material, as
evidenced by Ihara. Soft magnetic materials were
utilized for their advantageous large saturation flux
densities.
. . . Soft magnetic materials lent themselves
favorably to formation as films by conventional film
forming techniques and magnetic thin films were
recognized in the art as substitutes for magnetic block
members, especially in view of the continued trend in
the art towards smaller dimensions for both magnetic
heads utilized in disk devices and magnetic heads
utilized in tape devices. Also, the fact that soft
magnetic materials utilized as films in the art had
superior characteristics to common core block materials
3The examiner initially incorrectly characterized Ihara as
teaching that the soft magnetic ferrite material can be formed by
sputtering or deposition (final Office action at p. 3), which
characterization he withdrew in the Examiner's Answer (at p. 10,
para. C).
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