Appeal No. 96-1597 Page 6
Application No. 08/152,523
We do not agree.
Salkeld does not teach that the heating chamber is movable
with respect to the tank that holds the quenching metal, but
rather that these two elements are fixedly mounted with respect
to one another (see column 2, lines 42-45). Moreover, Salkeld
does not set forth any concerns regarding the level of the
molten bath of quenching metal and, from our perspective, the
method and apparatus disclosed in this reference would
accommodate a variance in such level merely by adjusting the
distance of the downward movement of the mold into the bath.
Thus, in our opinion, no support for the examiner’s position is
found in this reference. Since Matsunaga does not even
disclose a heating chamber, there is no support here, either.
We therefore fail to perceive any teaching, suggestion or
incentive in either reference which would have led one of
ordinary skill in the art to modify the Salkeld system so that
the molten bath of quenching material is moved with respect to
the heating chamber at all, much less that it would perform the
step of moving the molten bath relative to the heating chamber
in the manner required by claim 1.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007