Appeal No. 2000-1628
Application No. 09/163,013
alone [because] [c]learly, the spacer layer of each of these
references will adhere to the gasket plates, to a certain
degree, by a frictional bond” (answer, pages 5 and 6). This
position is untenable. Aside from the question of whether the
“spacer layer” disclosed by Kawaguchi or Yoshino is a heat-
resistant, compression-resistant material as required by claim
14, neither reference provides any factual support for the
examiner’s conjecture about a frictional bond. The
examiner’s main theory, set forth in the final rejection and
restated in the answer (see pages 3 and 4), rests on the
conclusion that it would have been obvious in view of Czernik
to make the spacer layer disclosed by either Kawaguchi or
Yoshino of an epoxy resin to limit compression of associated
gasket sealing beads, thereby meeting the “raised spacer
layer” limitations in claim 14. Czernik discloses a metal
gasket for use between a cylinder block and cylinder head
wherein the gasket includes silk-screened sealing patterns 26
made of elastomeric material and silk-screened control
patterns 32 made of a relatively incompressible material such
as an epoxy resin. The relatively incompressible control
patterns prevent destructive compression of the sealing
6
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