Appeal No. 1999-2097 Page 4
Application No. 08/621,988
coil assembly in the slots of a flat laminated core assembly, which is taught by Barrett, and
then bending the structure into a cylindrical shape, which is disclosed in Huang.
The guidance provided by our reviewing court for evaluating a rejection under 35
U.S.C. § 103 is that a prima facie case of obviousness is established when the teachings
of the prior art itself would appear to have suggested the claimed subject matter to one of
ordinary skill in the art. See, for example, In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 782, 26 USPQ2d 1529,
1531 (Fed. Cir.1993).
The method disclosed in the Japanese reference includes laminating a plurality of
magnetic strips together in the manner of the appellants’ claim 1 and then forming this flat
rectangular parallelopiped assembly into a cylindrical form. Although not so stated, it is
apparent that the coil assembly is installed upon the core after the bending operation. This
is exactly what the appellants wish to avoid, and is not what is required by claim 1. It
should also be noted that the method set forth in the Japanese reference includes placing
a bending rod (10) in each of the slots (3) in the stator core assembly prior to the bending
step, which are grasped by the bending machine to effect the bending, whereafter they are
removed.
In the Huang method, the stator core is comprised of a plurality of arcuate segments
that are formed into a cylinder. While it is true that the stator coil assembly is wound in
place upon the stator core prior to it being formed into its cylindrical shape, contrary to the
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