Appeal No. 2001-1464 Page 2
Application No. 09/141,499
invention, the part is heated to a temperature at which the material exhibits superplastic
properties and a pull die heated to about said superplastic temperature is pulled through
an opening in the part to form the protrusion. A copy of the claims under appeal is set forth
in the appendix to the appellant’s brief.
The examiner relied upon the following prior art references in rejecting the appealed
claims:
Taylor 1,911,653 May 30, 1933
Latham 3,535,909 Oct. 27, 1970
Okada et al. (Okada) 4,676,088 Jun. 30, 1987
Tsuchiya et al. (Tsuchiya) 5,975,405 Nov. 2, 1999
Admitted prior art at page 3, lines 17-34, of appellant’s specification (AAPA)
The following rejections are before us for review.1
Claims 1, 2, 5-8, 15-21 and 32 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Okada in view of Taylor.
Claims 3 and 4 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable
over Okada in view of Taylor and AAPA.
Claims 9 and 10 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable
over Okada in view of Taylor and Latham.
The examiner (answer, Paper No. 10, pages 2-3) has withdrawn the rejections under the first and1
second paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. § 112 set forth in the final rejection (Paper No. 5).
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