Appeal No. 1997-3515
Application No. 08/390,226
magnetic system recited in the two independent claims. At the
outset, we point out that such suggestion does not emanate
from either of the two primary references which, from our
perspective, appear to be the types of systems over which the
appellants believe their invention to be an improvement.
Belna, the first of the three secondary references
applied by the examiner, discloses a wafer transportation
apparatus in which the sequential energization of magnetic
systems levitates a platform carrier upon which a wafer is
positioned, linearly propels it along a track to the next
station, and then lowers the wafer onto another platform.
However, Belna does not disclose housings or valves, so it
clearly would not have suggested to one of ordinary skill in
the art that one of the components of a magnetic transport
system be positioned outside of the housings and the other
inside the housing. Nor is there a teaching of utilizing a
magnetic transport system to move a carrier through valves.
Also, the wafer carrier is levitated for movement, and is not
equipped with wheels, and the carrier is not disclosed as
moving over discontinuous segments of track nor is there
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