Appeal No. 98-1050
Application No. 08/558,163
provide the Umemoto engine with an air compressor driven
directly off the camshaft to supply compressed air to the air
supply system. Suggestion for this modification is found in
the self evident advantages thereof, which include providing a
continuous supply of compressed air, rather than one limited
to the capacity of a single accumulator, so that the operating
range of the engine is extended. Such an advantage would have
been known to the artisan, for whom skill is presumed, rather
than the lack thereof. In re Sovish, 769 F.2d 738, 743, 226
USPQ 771, 774 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
Simonyi discloses a vehicle drive system in which the
engine drives an air compressor that provides compressed air
for multiple systems associated with the engine. The patent
states that these include “conventional uses” such as braking,
as well as the additional use of pressurizing the transmission
system (see Abstract). From our perspective, one of ordinary
skill in the art would have found suggestion in Simonyi for
further modifying the Umemoto engine so that the compressed
air system operated an air actuated accessory in addition to
the engine valves. As was the case above, suggestion for such
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