Appeal No. 95-2911
Application 07/814,693
[w]hile a variety of motion translating mechanisms have
been suggested and used, perhaps the most widely
accepted in the art is a lead screw which is coupled
directly to the stepper motor and which is matingly
engaged with the head carriage either directly or via
suitable means mounted to the carriage.
Inoue does not provide any further disclosure as to what was
meant by having the lead screw matingly engaged with the head
carriage directly. While we could accept the Examiner’s
invitation for us to speculate, we will not do so for this
appeal. Thus, we find that Inoue does not teach a carriage
formed of sheet metal
in which the sheet metal forming the carriage includes
a narrow bracket portion extending therefrom and having
an integrally formed, upraised, wedge-shaped element
having flat sides tapering to a thin edge for
engagement with a thread groove of the feed screw and
being formed of press-worked sheet metal, the sheet-
metal being the same sheet-metal forming the carriage
so as to form a unitary structure
as recited in Appellant’s claim 5.
Turning to Aruga, we agree that Aruga teaches in column 6,
lines 5-61, and illustrated in Figure 7, a pinion 4 which engages
in a rack 3a of a carriage 3. However, Aruga does not teach
the carriage includes a narrow bracket portion
extending therefrom and having an integrally formed,
upraised, wedge-shaped element having flat sides
tapering to a thin edge for engagement with a thread
groove of the feed screw and being formed of press-
worked sheet metal, the sheet-metal being the same
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