Appeal No. 1998-0378
Application No. 08/705,063
a structural material;
a voltage generating material formed of a ferroelectric
material, a pyroelectric material, or a piezoelectric
material, which is bonded to said structural material and
which generates a voltage in accordance with an impact force
applied to said structural material; and
an electrode, connected to said structural material and
said voltage generating material, which detects cracks in said
structural material by detecting said voltage generated by
said voltage generating material.
The prior art reference of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims is:
Dufrane et al. (Dufrane) 4,255,974 Mar. 17,
1981
Claims 8 through 14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as being unpatentable over Dufrane.
Reference is made to the Examiner's Answer (Paper No. 20,
mailed October 15, 1997) for the examiner's complete reasoning
in support of the rejections, and to appellants' Brief (Paper
No. 19, filed July 15, 1997) and Reply Brief (Paper No. 21,
filed October 30, 1997) for appellants' arguments
thereagainst.
OPINION
We have carefully considered the claims, the applied
prior art reference, and the respective positions articulated
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