Appeal No. 99-0638 Page 3
Application No. 08/679,023
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to a vibration canceler
on a shaft, the vibration canceler comprising at least two
half-shells (2) having at least one elastic element (3)
deformable in a circumferential direction, at least two
inertial masses (4) and a fastening apparatus (5, 7) joining
the inertial masses to one another. The fastening apparatus
of the invention comprises at least one link element (5) and a
lock element (7). A further understanding of the invention
can be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 1, which
appears in the appendix to the appellants' brief.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:3
Hladky et al. (Hladky) 5,069,054 Dec. 3, 1991
Smith 5,193,432 Mar. 16, 1993
Wolf et al. (Wolf) 5,328,408 Jul. 12, 1994
(filed June 30, 1992)
3Although not expressly relied upon by the examiner, we
note the appellants' admitted prior art discussed in the last
paragraph on page 1 of the appellants' specification, which
appears to show that a vibration canceler as claimed is known,
except for the particular fastening arrangements claimed. In
the event of further prosecution, the examiner may want to
consider whether the claims are unpatentable over this
admitted prior art in combination with Hladky and/or other
prior art.
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