Appeal No. 2002-1026 Page 5
Application No. 09/239,403
the outer core is increased by increasing the weight of the outer portion of the ball, in
order to increase the moment of inertia so that the ball has less spin and less carry
(specification, pages 1 and 16).
The following is a comparison of the ranges recited in the appellants’ claim 1 with
those of Yabuki:
Claim 1 Yabuki
Core diameter 1.46-1.51 in. 0.39-1.49 in. (Fig. 1)
Core weight 31-33 gm. 17-30.4 gm. (Table 1)
Inner cover layer thickness 0.045-0.055 in. 0.039-0.59 in. (col. 4)1
Weight, core and inner cover 37-40 gm. 32-39 gm. (col. 2)
Outer cover layer thickness 0.050-0.060 in. 0.055-0.106 in. (col. 4)
Weight, core and inner & outer covers 45-46 gm. 45.3 gm. (col. 7)
Comparing the ranges one by one, the lower limit of Yabuki’s range for core diameter is
far below that of claim 1, and the upper limit overlaps that of claim 1 only slightly. In
order to come within the range of claim 1, a core diameter from only the upper 2.7% of
the Yabuki range would have to be selected; 97.3% of the range would not meet the
terms of the claim. As for the core weight, Yabuki’s range does not overlap at all with
that of the claim. In the case of the inner cover layer thickness, only the extreme lower
end of the Yabuki range (1%) overlaps the claimed range if the drawing is used to
1Yabuki did not directly set forth the range of thickness of the inner cover, and the ranges for the
diameter of the core and the inner cover overlap as denoted in Figure 1. To present the ranges in the best
possible light viz-a-viz the rejection, the recited range was calculated by using 0.039 in. (1 mm.) as the
minimum and 0.59 in. (15 mm.) as the maximum, based upon the dimensions given on Figure 1.
However, in Yabuki’s several examples (columns 5 and 6), the thickness of the inner core varied between
0.165 in. and 0.283 in.
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Last modified: November 3, 2007