Appeal No. 2000-1632
Application No. 09/055,308
Claim 3 depends from claim 1 and requires the first and
second balls to be formed of nonmagnetic material. In rejecting
this claim, it appears that the examiner is mixing and matching
various elements from the Figures 3 and 5 embodiments of Rumsey
in an effort to arrive at the subject matter of this claim.
This approach is improper. In that the examiner has not
persuasively established that Rumsey discloses using nonmagnetic
material for both the bearing balls and spheres in a single
disclosed embodiment, the anticipation rejection of claim 3
cannot be sustained.
Claim 9 depends from claim 1 and adds that the sum of the
number of first balls and the number of second balls is an even
number. In that we have found that Rumsey discloses an
arrangement of plastic bearing balls and steel spheres wherein
the balls and spheres alternate all the way around the bearing
tracks, it necessarily follows that the sum of the number of
plastic bearing balls and the number of steel spheres would be
an even number. The anticipation rejection of claim 9 therefore
is sustained.
Rejections (3) and (4).
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