Appeal No. 2001-0290 Page 2
Application No. 09/084,871
The appellants’ invention relates to a one-piece steering
knuckle assembly for vehicles wherein the tie rod arm as well
as the hydraulic brake caliper bracket and axle spindle are
forged together as a single piece (specification, page 1).
According to appellants, “[s]uch a design eliminates the brake
caliper/knuckle joint and the tie rod arm/knuckle joint, and
thus, it results in savings in assembly time and weight”
(specification, page 2). A copy of the claims under appeal is
set forth in the appendix to the appellants’ brief.1
The examiner relied upon the following prior art
references in rejecting the appealed claims:
Afanador et al. (Afanador) 3,801,124 Apr. 2,
1974
Mitchell 5,219,176 Jun. 15,
1993
Claims 1-5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as2
being unpatentable over Mitchell in view of Afanador.
The copies of claims 3 and 4 in the appendix to appellants’ brief1
include minor errors in reproduction, in that, in line 2 thereof, “flange”
should be “flanged.”
Although the rejected claims were not identified in the statement of2
the rejection on page 3 of the answer, it is apparent from the final rejection
and from the examiner’s agreement (answer, page 2) with appellants’ statement
of the issues that claims 1-5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a).
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