Appeal No. 2001-1473
Application 08/946,736
adjacent one side of a grinding wheel spacer by a washer 20 and
nut 21. The fan unit generates a breeze of air which cools the
workpiece being grinded and keeps the grinding wheel free of
ground particles. According to the examiner,
the fan plate (11) is shown in intimate contact with
the grinding shaft (hub). Thus, a certain degree of
heat transfer between the hub and the plate is
contemplated to occur. Inherently, it is old and
notoriously well-known to select a high thermal
conductivity material of the fan plate (11) for
maximizing the heat transfer between the hub and the
fan plate.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of
ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was
made to have modified the [Christian] drill sharpener
with a fan plate fixedly attached to the shaft of the
grinding wheel as taught by Liss to provide cooling to
the grinding process for optimum grinding condition
[revised answer, page 6].
Liss does not support this position. More particularly,
there is no teaching or suggestion in Liss that the fan unit 11
is made of a material having high thermal conductivity, is in
intimate contact with the hub of a grinding wheel assembly or
functions to draw heat away from the hub for dissipation into a
surrounding environment.
Accordingly, we shall not sustain the standing 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) rejection of claim 31 as being unpatentable over
Christian in view of Wiand and Liss.
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