Appeal No. 1999-0405 Application No. 08/651,571 devised a system whereby they have improved the means for attachment of the bearing ring to the impeller and shaft of a molten metal pump. That attachment system involves the inclusion of one or more generally concentric grooves on one or both of the surface portions of the notch in contact with the bearing ring. Note, for example, the grooves (58) in the radially facing wall (59) and axially facing wall (61) of the notch (56) seen in Figure 5 of the drawings. As indicated on page 8 of the specification, appellants have found that the grooved walls facilitate even distribution of the cement over the entire joint surface between the impeller notch and the bearing ring and improves the mechanical bonding at the graphite/refractory cement interface. Independent claims 1, 9, 14, 19 and 20 are representative of the subject matter on appeal and a copy of those claims may be found in the Appendix to appellants’ brief. The prior art references relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are: Mordue et al. (Mordue) 5,028,211 Jul. 2, 1991 3Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007