Appeal No. 1998-1794
Application 08/738,467
a flange which extends from an inner bore defined by the outer
surface of the sleeve 20 and over the stator (EA5).
We disagree with the Examiner's interpretation. Claim 20
requires the flange supporting the disc to extend over a
region where the stator coils are located. The flange of the
hub 16 supporting the disc 12 is outside the motor and does
not extend over the stator coils. The Examiner's apparent
interpretation that the whole hub 16, not just the flange
supporting disc 12, is the claimed flange is not considered
reasonable.
The Examiner has also applied Rabe as showing a housing
having upper and lower casings. Rabe, figure 3, discloses a
motor having an internal rotor which is very similar in
structure to Appellant's disclosed spindle motor except that
the rotor magnets 131 are mounted at a greater diameter on the
spindle hub (rotor body 130) than Appellant's magnets,
probably to achieve greater torque and at the same time to
leave room for the electrical control circuit 123. However,
Rabe does not cure the deficiency of Hajec because the flange
portion supporting the rotating recording media 104, 104' is
radially inward of the stator coils 120. Accordingly, we
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