Appeal No. 1997-1538
Application 08/184,172
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Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as unpatentable over Tsunai or Hibi. Both
reference are of record in the application file.
Each reference describes applying a composition comprising an alcohol compound, to a silicon
nitride ceramic surface, in an amount sufficient to provide a lubricating effect, wherein said alcohol has
lubricating activity and is not a glycol or 2,6-ditertiarybutylcresol. The n-alcohols described in the
references fall within the alcohols defined in claim 13. Tsunai states:
The experimental results showed that Si N is lubricative with the n-alcohols,
3 4
not only with the higher alcohols of Nc$5, but also with the lower alcohols of
Nc# 4, even at low sliding speed.
Tsunai, p. 373. Hibi has a similar teaching relating to two series of experiments which demonstrate the
lubricating effect of n-alcohols:
In the first series of experiments, both the friction and wear were
significantly higher in water than in the n-alcohols. The friction coefficient was
0.78 in water, 0.14 in the n-alcohols for Nc# 4 and 0.09 for 5 # Nc # 10.
Wear in n-alcohols was minimal: it decreased with an increase of Nc for Nc #
4 and it was very small for Nc $ 5. In methanol even small concentrations of
water degraded both the friction and wear characteristics.
The second series of experiments showed that hydrodynamic
lubrication did not occur in water or in nonanol in the velocity range tested (up
to 800 mm/s), but it was obtained in methanol and in ethanol at a velocity of
800 mm/s for the range of load and speeds examined. The wear in water was
more than 10 times greater than that in lower alcohols.
Hibi, p. 1.
55We have not considered the patentability of any other claims with respect to this new ground of rejection.
66Y. Tsunai et al., “Tribochemical Wear of Silicon Nitride in Water, n-Alcohols and their Mixtures,” Wear of
Materials, p. 369-374 (1989)
77Y. Hibi et al., “Friction and Wear of Silicon Nitride in Water, n-Alcohols, Water-Methanol and Water-
Glycol,” Bulletin of Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, Japan, No. 53, p. 1-15 (1990).
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