Appeal No. 1999-0242
Application 08/643,829
surface on the top side (defined by the socket member 50) and
a flat mating surface on the bottom side (formed on the
extension 54) and a foot member having a flat mating surface
56" (final rejection, pages 3 and 4). The examiner also finds
that
[s]hear forces produced by axial loads placed
on the leg prosthesis of Sackett occur in at least
two ways. Firstly, an axial load associated with
the weight of the amputee generally imparts torque
about the cross bolt 54' such that torsion (and thus
shear) exists on the mating flat surfaces of
elements 54 and 55 in the Sackett device. Secondly,
during the swing phase of a gait cycle, the weight
of the foot member combined with the upward pull
exerted on the cast fitting 44 effects
longitudinally directed forces which, at the level
of the flat mating surfaces, take on the form of
shear stresses. . . . The curved mating surface
within the socket member 50 of Sackett is clearly
capable of mating with a complemental round pylon so
as to achieve shear forces on the resultant coupled
surfaces; this is accomplished, for example, by
securing the two parts with laterally oriented bolts
or by bonding the curved surfaces together with an
adhesive. Thus the functional language set forth in
Appellant’s claim 28, lines 9-13, is plainly met by
the structure of the Sackett components [answer,
page 4].
Anticipation is established only when a single prior art
reference discloses, expressly or under principles of
inherency, each and every element of a claimed invention. RCA
Corp. v. Applied Digital Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444,
4
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