Appeal No. 99-0214 Page 8
Application No. 08/372,126
is provided for determining the meaning of the phrase “smoothly
transitioning,” other than to use the words “gentle transition”
to describe it, which provides no greater clue to its meaning
than the original phrase. This being the case, from our
perspective one of ordinary skill in the art would have
appreciated that the transition between the inclined surface
and the lateral surface for seating the sealing ring must be
smooth enough to allow the leading edge of the sealing ring to
pass without difficulty. This conclusion is supported by
Kondoh, which teaches providing inclined walls at two places so
that the sealing ring can be “smoothly inserted.” The first is
wall 291, which is at the entrance to the cavity in which the
sealing ring is installed, and the second is the inclined
surface of the contacting grooves 293 and 294 (see column 4,
lines 20-27). It therefore is our view that in the Kondoh
construction the inclined groove wall is “smoothly
transitioning” to the internal lateral surface to the extent
required by claim 12, and therefore a prima facie case of
obviousness is established and the rejection of claim 12 is
sustained.
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