Appeal No. 1998-1418
Application 08/313,249
mutually concentric parts 32 and 33. A helical compression
spring 36 is mounted to cap 30 between the two cap parts 32, 33
and functions to bias the diaphragm 31 against the atomizing
disk 21.
Takahashi discloses an ultrasonic wave nebulizer for
converting liquid water to mist. An elongated pump shaft 1 has
an upper horn 30 capped with a mesh 235, an ultrasonic source
10A, 10B mounted substantially at a midpoint of the length of the
pump shaft 1, and a liquid vessel 300 penetrated by the lower end
of the pump shaft 1.
It is the examiner’s position that both Anthony and
Bendig teach the criticality of contact between the mesh plate
and the horn and that Anthony “teaches a device as limited and
defined by the broad recitations of claim 1 with the exception
of the pump shaft penetrating the liquid reservoir” (final
rejection, pg. 4). The only modification of Anthony urged by
the examiner is that
Takahashi et al. teach a similar ultrasonic
atomizer where the liquid reservoir is
penetrated by the pump shaft. Given that
both arrangements can centrally feed the
liquid to the horn, it would have been
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