Appeal No. 1999-2131 Page 13
Application No. 08/971,504
appeal, or where in the prior art there is a suggestion for
combining Drake and Du Mond so as to arrive at the
particular drill bit claimed by the appellants. Since the
examiner has not set forth a prima facie case of obviousness,
we will not sustain the examiner's rejection of claims 1-24,
26, 27, 41-48, 53, 54, 59-64, 69 and 70 over Drake in view of
Du Mond.
Turning now to the examiner's rejection of claims 25-40,
49-58 and 65-74, these claims recite, inter alia, a thrust
washer which floats and locks depending on the load condition
as recited in claims 49-58 and 65-74, or a thrust washer
having an inside diametric clearance greater than the outside
diametric clearance
as recited in claims 25-40. As disclosed by the appellants on
page 9 of their specification, if the inside diametric
clearance is larger than the outside diametric clearance the
floating thrust washer will lock during extreme load peaks.
USPQ2d 1430, 1432 (Fed. Cir. 1990).
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