Appeal No. 1996-3506
Application 08/178,439
According to the subject matter of
independent claim 11, the conductive regulating
blade member (16c) and the conductive transfer
roller member (20) are synergistically combined with
each other.
This synergistic effect could not have been
known by anyone without building the apparatus of
the present invention and conducting experiments
having the results as shown in the graphs of Figs. 6
and 7 of this application. (Brief-pages 6 and 7.)
Looking at Appellants’ Figure 6 we see that charge
injection (curve C) performs better than triboelectrification
(curve D). Looking at Figure 7 we see that a conductive
transfer roller (curve E) performs better than a corona
discharger (curve F). Each of the elements chosen by
Appellants (charge injection and a conductive roller) provides
better results than those not chosen (triboelectrification and
corona discharge). Thus, we see no synergistic effect in the
combination, only that which would be expected from the
beneficial performance of each. Since Appellants' claimed
structure has been shown to be obvious by the combination of
Nishio and Hosoya, we would expect the same enhanced, but
unclaimed, environmental performance.
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