Appeal No. 96-2520
Application 07/891,852
contained in such teachings or suggestions. In re Sernaker,
702 F.2d 989, 995, 217 USPQ 1, 6 (Fed. Cir. 1983).
Appellant argues on pages 9 and 10 of the brief that
there is no element in Sotome '307 which defines a profile to
provide a small volume compression chamber for increasing the
stiffness of the diaphragm. On page 4 of the first reply
brief, Appellant argues that Sotome '307 filling material 7
which is cotton or felt, would not be considered by a person
of ordinary skill in the art to be a solid member or be able
to provide a small volume compression chamber.
In Figure 2, we find that Sotome '307 does teach a
solid member 17 made of a non-magnetic material and positioned
between said cap portion 12 of the diaphragm and the pole
portion 15 where the solid member defines a profile at a small
distance to provide a small volume compression chamber for
increasing a stiffness of the diaphragm (the volume on the
right and left of the solid member 17) as recited in
Appellant's claim 9. Furthermore, we find that Sotome '307
teaches in column 2, lines 43-45, that the member 17 is
made of foamed rubber or foamed plastic material which is a
12
Page: Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007