Appeal No. 1999-1786
Application No. 08/821,738
Appellant’s invention relates to a steering wheel
assembly (22) with an improved gear nut (42) for retaining the
steering wheel assembly on a steering column shaft (24). The
gear nut (42) being fitted into a recess in hub (28) and
including threads for engaging the end of threaded steering
column shaft (24) and gear teeth (46) for engaging a worm tool
(54) for rotating the gear nut (42). The gear nut (42)
further includes a web flange (50) at an inner end, which
flange tapers radially outwardly generally from a longitudinal
midway point of the gear nut (42) and axially towards the
inner end of the gear nut. A representative copy reproduced
from appellant’s brief of independent claim 5 is attached to
this decision.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner as evidence of obviousness are:
Fisher 4,869,614 Sept. 26,
1989
Scharboneau et al. 5,692,770 Dec. 2,
1997
(Scharboneau)
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007