Appeal No. 97-1628
Application No. 08/442,610
Therefore, while shear waves appear to be generated in the
Vogel system, they move along the length of the elements, such
as is shown at 58 in Figure 3 (see column 6, line 31 et seq.),
and do not reflect from the interfaces, as is required by the
appellants’ claims. Thus, even if the teachings of Vogel and
Broding were combined, they would not, in our view, render the
claimed subject matter obvious.
Moreover, we fail to discern any teaching or suggestion
which would have motivated one of ordinary skill in the art to
combine the references in the manner proposed by the examiner.
It is an object of the Broding invention to solve problems
present in the prior art by utilizing only compressional waves
through and beyond the casing to interrogate the elements in
the borehole; shear waves are converted to compressional waves
(column 3, lines 1-15). As is made clear in column 7, in the
Broding system the shear waves that are generated remain in
the casing, while the compression waves travel into the
surrounding elements. Therefore, replacing the compression
waves in Broding with shear waves would subvert the Broding
invention and act as a disincentive to the artisan to do so.
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