Appeal No. 97-2619
Application 08/104,461
assemblies for the self evident advantages to be gained by incorporating a plurality of contact terminals
in a single electrical housing. The resulting combination would meet the configuration and orientation
limitations for the insulation crimping portions found in the last 5 lines of claim 1, in our view. The
requirement of claim 1 that the housing cavities are spaced on centers less
than 0.09 inches apart, and that the insulation crimping portions of the contact are adapted to receive a
range of wire sizes including 28 AWG, are considered to be obvious matters of engineering choice
depending on the contact density and wire size, respectively, called for by the particular connector
application.
The limitation of claim 2 is disclosed by Shindo. As to claims 3 and 4, the requirement that the
contact terminal is of rectangular cross-section, and the requirement that contact terminal is of solid
cross-section, are at the very least suggested by Shindo’s showing in Figure 3 at element 51, such that
the subject matter of these dependent claims also would have been obvious.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Nishijo in view of
Shindo, and further in view of Berg. Berg teaches (e.g., column 6, lines 13-25) milling stock material to
form a bi-level strip 10 from which contacts are made, such that the rearward ends of the resulting
contacts 60, including the crimp portions 64 thereof, are of reduced thickness to facilitate crimping. In
light of Berg’s teaching, it would have been further obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide
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