Appeal No. 95-1727
Application No. 07/966,876
amount of force acting on the indentation portion 48 (Figure 5)
is effective to improve the flatness of the portion so that “its
surface” is generally planar. Thus, we readily perceive that “the
surface” in the claim language at issue denotes both the upper
and lower faces of the indentation portion which are subjected to
the opposed forces acting thereon and flattened, as seen in
Figure 5. We, accordingly, determine that the language of claims
3 and 11 is definite in meaning.
The obviousness issues
CLAIM 1
We reverse the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
It follows that claims 2, 4, 7 through 10, 12, and 15 fall
therewith.
Claim 1 addresses a method of manufacturing an interlocked
lamination stack from a sheet stock material, with the
interlocked stack defining a central axis (as disclosed, the
central shaft hole 26 of Figure 2 has a central axis 28). The
claimed method requires, inter alia, the step of forming a first
lamination in stock material including forming openings and a
“centrally located” generally circular indentation defining a
corresponding depression and projection. As claimed, this
arrangement enables the first lamination to be rotatable relative
5
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