Appeal No. 1998-3312
Application No. 08/354,803
The examiner’s position is noted on page 4 of the answer
with respect to the remaining references used under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 to reject the claims on appeal. The British patent
‘931, the Japanese Patent ‘333 and the European Patent ‘579,
teach, respectively, the use of sealing discs, sliding agents
and an outer base and cover. None of these limitations are
present in independent claim 1. Therefore, we will only
consider the combination of Holloway and Gruska in addressing
claim 1.
As indicated above, Holloway fails to disclose a flexible
bearing means consisting of a plurality of tongues and an
inclined bearing surface being situated, in an axial
direction, beyond the lower end of the outer sleeve. Gruska
teaches a flexible bearing means (31A, 45A) including a
plurality of tongues and an inclined surface and fails to
teach situating the bearing means in an axial direction beyond
the lower end of the outer sleeve (39).
After reviewing the combined teachings of Gruska and
Holloway, we reach the conclusion that the subject matter of
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