Appeal No. 2000-1632
Application No. 09/055,308
Claims 6 and 7 depend from claim 2 and add that the second
balls are made of chrome steel and stainless steel,
respectively. The examiner relies on Goodrich ‘923 for its
teaching of chrome plated balancing balls and Goodrich ‘688 for
its teaching of stainless steel balancing balls and concludes
that it would have been obvious to make the steel spheres of
Rumsey of chrome steel or stainless steel in view of the
teachings of the secondary references. We do not agree.
Rumsey expressly teaches (column 3, lines 54-75) that it is
an economic advantage to use a mixture of nylon or other plastic
balls and steel spheres because the steel spheres cost
substantially less the plastic balls. In our view, this express
teaching would act as a strong disincentive to the sort of
modification proposed by the examiner because making the steel
spheres of stainless steel or chrome steel would likely increase
their cost and thus negate the very economic advantage Rumsey
seeks to achieve.
Rejection (5).
Claims 4 and 5 depend from claim 2 and add that the first
balls are made of beryllium copper alloy and bronze,
respectively. Claim 8 depends from claim 1 and adds that the
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