Appeal No. 96-2248
Application 08/341,455
attached to hull part 16 and rearwardly extending therefrom as
shown in Figure 1. Angier further discloses an outer housing
comprised of pump section 3 and steering section 2. The outer
housing is resiliently mounted to the hull in the tunnel via
gasket 18 and the rubber washers on the mounting plate 19 and
adapter plate 22. Also, sealing member 33 serves to
resiliently mount the outer housing. We are in agreement with
the examiner that the rubber gasket and these rubber washers
would inherently absorb some vibration and provide the sole
mounting means mounting the outer housing in the hull and
tunnel, since there is no metal-to-metal contact.
It is our further finding that Nakase discloses an output
shaft coupled to an engine via the agency of an elastic
vibration dampening connection 53. In our view, it would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use such
an elastic vibration dampening connection in the drive shaft
of Angier for
the disclosed purpose of eliminating drive line vibrations.
Therefore, in view of the combined teachings of Angier and
Nakase, claims 1 through 4 on appeal would have been obvious
to one of ordinary skill.
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