Appeal No. 1999-2444
Application 08/842,088
plurality of passages 53 formed in the main
bearing members 54 of the crankcase member 32.
This delivers lubricant under pressure to all of
the main bearings 33 and 34 [column 4, lines 3
through 23].
As conceded by the examiner (see page 3 in the answer),
Fukuoka does not meet the limitations in claim 16 requiring
“an oil drain flow passage extending vertically through said
second crankshaft supporting member for flow of lubricant
supplied into said crankcase chamber by gravity generally in
the direction from said top end to said bottom end of said
chamber to return to said lubricant source.” Fukuoka’s
engine has no such oil drain flow passage. The examiner’s
reliance on Tsunoda to cure this deficiency (see pages 3 and
4 in the answer) is not well founded.
Tsunoda is similar to Fukuoka in that it too discloses
an outboard motor engine 4 having a vertically oriented
crankshaft 13. The engine 4 also includes a cylinder block
18 having an integral skirt section 18a forming half of a
crankcase, a split crankcase 19 forming the other half of
the crankcase, opposed bearing sections 28a, 28b extending
from the cylinder block and the split crankcase for
rotatably supporting the crankshaft, an oil pump 72, an oil
5
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