Appeal No. 2001-2565 Page 5
Application No. 09/173,497
Here, Barnes' invention is a "superconductor magnetic suspension. . . ." Col. 1,
ll. 11-12. More specifically, "[a]n object of the invention is to provide a method and
apparatus for establishing a controlled flying distance between data transducing head
means and data disk means having a recording surface thereon, wherein the
controlled flying instance is maintained by operation of a superconductor/coil
pair." Col. 3, ll. 22-27 (emphasis added). Consequently the reference "provides a
superconductor/coil pair for each head of [a] disk stack." Id. at ll. 8-9. In summary, a
superconductor magnetic suspension is Barnes' sine qua non.
The examiner's proposal to eliminate Barnes' superconductor magnetic
suspension in favor of charge plates "would require . . . a change in the basic principles
under which," In re Ratti, 270 F.2d 810, 813, 123 USPQ 349, 352 (CCPA 1959), the
reference "was designed to operate." Id., 123 USPQ at 352. "Such a material
and radical modification of the prior art would be contrary to the teachings of the
primary reference patent . . . and could be made only with the assistance of [the]
appellant[s'] disclosure." In re Irmscher, 262 F.2d 85, ?, 120 USPQ 196, 198 (CCPA
1958).
Because the examiner's proposal to substitute charge plates for Barnes'
superconductor magnetic suspension would have required a change in the basic
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