Appeal No. 1998-2702
Application No. 08/466,507
Claim 6 recites a forming blank having a central bulge, a
peripheral bulge, and at least one unthinned portion between
the two bulges. While the forming blank disclosed by Nakamura
and the method by which it is formed into a part have much in
common with the appellant’s invention, Nakamura does not teach
that the various bulges shown in the upper right figure on
patent page 123, which at that point are prethinned, are
separated by an unthinned portion, nor does this appear to be
inherent. Moreover, the examiner has not set forth, nor have
we perceived on our own, any teaching, suggestion or incentive
which would have led one of ordinary skill in the art to
provide the Nakamura forming blank with the configuration of
thinned and unthinned portions required by the claim.
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