Appeal No. 97-2035
Application 08/161,234
discussed below, the rejections have not been shown to be
without merit.
According to the examiner, one with ordinary skill in the
art would have been motivated to connect the slider to the
disk “because the disk would act as a ground, allowing the
slider to discharge” (Answer at 4). Missing from this
rationale is the necessary teaching that the disk is
electrically connected to ground. In the supplemental
examiner’s answer, however, the examiner made the finding that
an “electrical connection between a spindle and disk/base is
old and well known in the art,” and cited Abo to support the2
key finding. In the reply to the supplemental examiner’s
answer, the applicants do not argue against the examiner’s
finding that an electrical connection between the disk and the
base through the spindle was well known, and acknowledges that
Abo discloses a path from the disk to the housing of the
drive.
2In the supplemental answer, the examiner evidently mis-
identified Abo as 1-199354 when in fact the reference provided
has the serial number 1-199364.
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