Appeal No. 1998-0335
Application 08/518,061
plates. Matsuda is cited as teaching making the principal
lens system electrode of an electron gun from a plurality of
laminated plates. The examiner concludes that it would have
been obvious to the artisan to form the intermediate electrode
of Shimoma with a plurality of separate plates as taught by
Matsuda [answer, pages 3-4].
Appellants argue that an intermediate electrode of
Shimoma is constructed from a single, relatively thick plate
of constant cross section along its thickness while the
laminated electrodes of Matsuda are principal lens electrodes,
rather than intermediate electrodes, and have a varying cross
section along their thickness. Based on these differences,
appellants assert that there is no possible motivation for
replacing Shimoma’s single plate electrode with a plurality of
stacked identical plates [brief, pages 4-5].
We agree with the conclusion of the examiner. There
is no question that Matsuda teaches that the focusing
characteristics of a “principal” [abstract translation] lens
system electrode can be improved by using laminated thin
plates. This principal lens system is referred to as a “main”
lens system in the attached translation. Therefore, the
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