Appeal No. 97-4079
Application No. 08/310,592
b. Claims 1 and 4
We sustain the rejection of claims 1 and 4 under 35
U.S.C.
§ 103 as being unpatentable over Nadal in view of Kastelic.
Nadal discloses a window operator comprising a housing 10
having a crank handle 31 for turning a worm gear 32 (the
claimed "first means"). The worm gear meshes with a sector
gear 20 having a plurality of helical teeth 21 (col. 3, lines
55, 56 and Figures 5 through 7) (the claimed "second means").
An operating arm 22 is integrally formed on gear 20 for
connection with a link 26 connected to the hinged portion of a
casement window (col. 3, lines 29-40). The rotation of the
crank handle 31 causes the worm gear 32 to rotate which, in
turn, causes the sector gear to be driven. The worm gear 32,
sector gear 20 and link 26 are injection molded from a
polymeric material consisting essentially of glass-filled
nylon including about 30% glass, by weight (col. 2, lines 49-
52).
Kastelic is cited by the examiner as evidence that it was
known in the art prior to the appellant's invention to make
gears using polyketone polymers (col. 1, lines 57-65). The
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