Appeal No. 96-2162
Application No. 08/265,561
surfaces of adjacent wafers will necessarily be biased
oppositely and, therefore, insulation must be provided in
order to isolate the negative lower surface of one wafer from
the positive upper surface of the wafer immediately below it.
Even though Heinz is silent on the character of the
double lines in question, the weight of the evidence provided
by the declarations of Mr. Culp would appear to indicate that
these lines do, in fact, represent insulators. Such evidence,
in view of the lack of any meaningful rebuttal by the examiner
on this point, leads us to conclude that there is no teaching
or suggestion by Heinz of stacking piezoelectric elements so
as to be in contact with each other.
Further, while Staufenberg does teach the use of a
dimorph, there is no teaching or suggestion therein of
stacking such dimorphs in such a manner as to have any
physical or electrically conductive contact therebetween.
Accordingly, other than hindsight, gleaned from appellant’s
own disclosure, the artisan would have had no reason to employ
dimorphs in place of the piezoelectric elements of Heinz and
to eliminate the insulator elements taught therein so as to
result in a stack of dimorphs being in direct physical or
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