Appeal No. 1999-0613 Page 7
Application No. 08/592,025
to the subject matter recited in claim 1. This being the case, we will not sustain the
rejection of independent claim 1 or, it follows, of claim 2, which depends therefrom.
Independent claim 4 also is directed to a motor vehicle steering assembly, and
differs from claim 1 in that it recites a pair of sleeve bearings, one at each end of the
tubular housing, and it further specifies that the material from which the bearings are made
is such that the sleeve will be “deformed or destroyed” (emphasis added) in the event
abrasive foreign matter enters between the steering shaft and the housing. For the
reasons set forth above with regard to claim 1, the applied references also fail to establish
a prima facie case of obviousness with respect to the subject matter of independent claim
4 and dependent claims 5-7, and we will not sustain the rejection.
SUMMARY
The rejection of claim 5 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, is not sustained.
The rejection of claim 7 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, is sustained
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