Ex parte PATEREK et al. - Page 8




          Appeal No. 1997-0524                                                        
          Application No. 08/495,699                                                  


          housing shell or being expelled from the shell entirely.  On                
          the other hand, LeMieux’s solution to the terminal assembly                 
          protection problem is to construct a pin assembly using a                   
          different material for the fusible section.  The material used              
          for LeMieux’s fusible section has a lower melting point than                
          the material used for the seal between the pin and the housing              
          thus causing the fuse section to melt before the seal during a              
          high temperature condition.  To the contrary, Bowsky’s                      
          structural flange approach to addressing the terminal assembly              
          integrity problem obviates any need to be concerned with                    
          relative melting points of seal and conductive pin.                         
               We note that the Examiner utilized Bowsky as the primary               
          reference even though LeMieux, and not Bowsky, is concerned                 
          with the relative difference of melting points of the seal and              
          pin.  However, even using LeMieux as a starting point for                   
          establishing a proposed obviousness combination, the rejection              
          would not result in the establishment of a prima facie case of              
          obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103.  In our view, the techniques               
          of Bowsky and LeMieux are so opposite in approach that any                  
          motivation to combine them must have resulted from an improper              
          attempt to reconstruct Appellants’ invention in hindsight.                  
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