Appeal No. 1999-0721
Application No. 08/683,826
and helically wound into a stack, with certain parts of the
strip overlapping one another in the stack to ultimately form
a thickened rim, comparatively thin web portions and a thick
hub for the gear or pulley when the stack is subjected to heat
and pressure in a mold (see, for example, Fig. 4 of Taylor and
Fig. 3 of Winter). According to the examiner, it would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art
to have provided in Bauer that the continuous strip
making up lining 3 is formed by cutting the strip as
a straight strip with slits 4 extending from one
side, not in ringed form, where this strip is then
bent at the connecting webs about axes extending
perpendicu-larly to the plane until the sectors form
a polygon producing an annular friction lining
because Taylor, and in the alternative Winter, teach
that it is well-known to form a ringed structure in
this manner and it is obvious to replace one means
for providing the ringed structure (i.e., that of
Bauer) with an art recognized alternative means for
providing a ringed structure (i.e., that of Taylor
or Winter).
Like appellants, we are of the view that the patents to
Taylor and Winter regarding the formation of gears and pulleys
are non-analogous to the art area relating to forming of flat
friction rings as in Bauer and appellants’ claimed subject
matter. Moreover, it is our opinion that the examiner has used
the claimed invention as a blueprint to piece together the
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