Appeal No. 1999-1478
Application 08/742,327
lubricant would prevent particles from sticking to the shaft
since the surface of the shaft would not be wet as with a
liquid lubricant.
Like appellants (brief, page 8), we find the examiner’s
rejection of claim 1 to be improper. Itoh teaches the use of
a solid lubricating film, i.e. a dry film lubricant, between
sliding component parts for the purpose of reducing friction
coefficient and enhancing wear resistance of the sliding
component parts even under conditions of high loads or high
surface pressure particularly in bearings and mechanical seals
(col. 4, lines 31-49). In Figure 1 of the present
application, it can be seen that the main shaft 14 is part of
a drive system for the coal pulverizer. Pinion shaft 16
drives main shaft 14 which in turn drives the yoke 12. In
order for the coal pulverizer to properly operate the main
shaft must drive the yoke through the connection at the
tapered yoke end of the main shaft. Therefore, in appellants’
coal pulverizer it would be undesirable to have sliding motion
between the tapered yoke end 25 of the main shaft 14 and the
yoke 12. The teaching of Itoh would lead one to expect that
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