Appeal No. 1997-3515
Application No. 08/390,226
evidence to indicate that it is capable of doing so. In view
of these factors, it is our conclusion that the artisan would
not have found a suggestion in Belna to modify the systems
disclosed in either of the primary references in such a manner
as to meet the terms of claim 1, that is, to place one of the
magnetic components on a wheeled wafer carrier positioned
inside the respective housings while locating the other
magnetic component outside of the housings and “associated
with one of the housings and the track segment associated
therewith,” so that the carrier
moves “on wheels through each housing without a mechanical
coupling between the respective drive unit located outside the
housing and the carrier located inside the housing.”
These shortcomings are not overcome by Kita. This
reference discloses a system in which a wheeled carrier is
moved along a track by conventional drive motors connected to
its wheels. Suspended from (or supported above) the carrier
by magnetic levitation is a pallet upon which the wafers to be
treated are positioned. The pallet, the wafers, and one of
the magnetic elements for effecting levitation are located
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