Appeal No. 2000-0653
Application No. 08/960,433
examiner to be overcome by the obvious substitution of the
ball and grooves of McQuaid in the dynamic pressure bearing
apparatus of Kameyama.
As explained more fully below, the basic difficulty that
we have with the proposed combination of prior art teachings
is that the modification of the Kameyama apparatus would only
have been suggested by appellant's underlying specification
and not by the reference teachings themselves.
As we see it, each of Kameyama and McQuaid teach
distinctly different approaches in establishing a thrust
bearing arrangement for a rotating shaft.
Kameyama discloses a dynamic pressure bearing apparatus
wherein the shaft at rest, at initial startup, or when
subjected to an external disturbing force, may come into
contact with a thrust receiver surface 32 of insert member 28;
otherwise, during normal operation the end of the shaft is
intended to be in a non-contact state or relationship relative
to the insert member. Patentee Kameyama's intent in providing
one of the shaft end surface and the thrust receiving surface
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