Appeal No. 95-3862
Application No. 08/068,091
We agree with the examiner that the various claimed aluminum
base alloy compositions would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art in view of the disclosures of Mori and
Tanaka. While appellants concede that Mori encompasses the
bearing alloy of appealed claim 2 and Tanaka encompasses the
bearing alloy of appealed claim 4, we disagree with appellants
that the claim language "consisting essentially of" precludes the
presence of certain additional elements disclosed by Mori and
Tanaka. For instance, whereas Tanaka discloses an alloy
containing lead and strontium, it is evident from appellants'
claims 2 and 3 that the inclusion of lead and strontium do not
materially affect the basic nature of appellants' aluminum base
alloy.
However, we concur with appellants that the applied prior
art fails to establish the obviousness of the claimed multi-
layered bearing that is produced by the claimed solution heat
treatment and artificial aging treatment. The primary references
of Mori and Tanaka, while disclosing a multi-layered bearing
comprising an aluminum base bearing alloy layer and a backing
metal layer, fail to disclose subjecting the multi-layered
bearing to the claimed solution heat treatment and artificial
aging treatment. Although Ogawa and Faure disclose the claimed
solution heat treatment and artificial aging treatment of an
-3-
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