Appeal No. 1998-0509
Application 08/236,771
Obviousness
Appellants argue that "Remise contains no teaching or
suggestion that an insert is within the opening of a housing
and also contains no teaching or suggestion that screw 40B
causes any distortion of peripheral housing 4 or that any
such distortion would be a problem" (Br5). Appellants argue
(Br5) that the purpose of the captive washer 11 in Dupree is
to provide a cushion to grip when the screw is tightened
that tends to resist loosening of the assembly due to
vibration and Dupree does not recognize the distortion
problem that Appellants' invention is directed to solve.
Accordingly, it is argued, one of ordinary skill in the art
would not have been motivated to use the resilient material
of Dupree and the Examiner has used impermissible hindsight.
We have several problems with the Examiner's rejection.
First, the combination of Remise and Dupree does not
suggest replacing the threaded hole 42B in Remise with a
deformable insert. Remise discloses that the screw is
screwed into the threaded hole 42B in the peripheral housing
4. Therefore, Remise clearly does not recognize the problem
of distortion of the housing caused by torque on the screw
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