Appeal No. 1996-1891
Application 08/058,478
discloses locating damping material 20 far from the
vibratile diaphragm. That is hardly a teaching of
locating the damping material near the vibratile
diaphragm in a waveguide speaker as disclosed and
claimed in this application. [Appellant's] FIGS. 1,
2 and 4 clearly disclose [that] the damping material
14, 24, 24' in the waveguide is near the vibratile
surface at the driver end of the waveguide"
[Emphasis added.]
Appellant further notes that his specification explains that
[b]y locating the polyester damping material 24
at the driver end as shown, the velocity is low at
low frequencies, and the damping material negligibly
attenuates bass frequency energy. However, at
higher frequencies, shorter wavelengths, the
velocity is higher, and the damping material 24
damps these higher frequency peaks as shown in FIG.
3 with a single block of damping material as shown.
[Spec. at 2, lines 19-25.]
We do not agree that Taddeo teaches that the damping material
must be located far from the vibratile surface, as appellant
contends. Taddeo does not explain where along the length of
the waveguide the damping material should be located; it is
only necessary that, as explained in Taddeo's claim 1, the
mohair fibers be "positioned in said housing and operatively
filling a portion of said labyrinth to a level such that all
sound waves emanating from said loudspeaker must pass through
said mohair fibers before reaching said other opening." While
this result is accomplished in Taddeo's Figure 2 system by
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