Appeal No. 95-0125
Application 07/818,162
within the cylinder. The mercury is forced into annuli 4 on
the periphery of the slide by a compression screw 2 (Figure
2).
The Auth patent is simply representative of typical
features of known Michelson interferometers.
The Airpot document teaches a glass cylinder and a
graphite piston for providing a precision fit therebetween,
without lubrication and seals, particularly for a dashpot,
snubber, and actuator. We perceive that one having ordinary
skill in the art would have understood that the relationship
between a piston and cylinder, as in the Airpot reference, may
fairly be denoted a bearing relationship. 6
6Contrary to appellant’s point of view (brief, pages 5
through 8), the Airpot document is considered to be
appropriately viewed as analogous prior art in the present
circumstance since its explicit teaching of slidably
interfaced bearing materials for wear-free operation is seen
to be reasonably pertinent to the bearing material problem
addressed by both appellant and the IBM disclosure.
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007