Appeal No. 2002-1145 Page 4
Application No. 09/335,471
cause of a problem even though, once that cause is known, the solution would have
been obvious. See In re Bergy, 596 F.2d 952, 966, 201 USPQ 352, 365 (CCPA 1979),
aff'd sub nom. Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303, 206 USPQ 193 (1980) and
cases cited therein.
Claim 12, the sole independent claim on appeal, reads as follows:
A method of assembling a toroidal continuously variable transmission
(CVT), the transmission comprising a transmission case for housing a first
toroidal unit and a second toroidal unit, the first toroidal unit having a first inside
disk and a first outside disk, the second toroidal unit having a second inside disk
and a second outside disk; and an axial member having a step between a large
diameter part and a small diameter part, a male screw being formed on the small
diameter part, the method comprising:
(a) connecting the first outside disk to the axial member using a first ball
spline having first spline balls;
(b) screwing a sheath member, having a female screw which screws on
the male screw, onto the small diameter part of the axial member such that the
sheath member abuts the step, the sheath member having an outer diameter
which gradually decreases from an outer diameter equal to that of the large
diameter part;
(c) passing the axial member and the sheath member into the
transmission case and through the first inside disk and the second inside disk;
(d) unscrewing the sheath member from the axial member;
(e) inserting second spline balls between the second outside disk and the
axial member; and
(f) placing a nut on the axial member.
In the rejection of claim 12 before us in this appeal (final rejection, pp. 2-3), the
examiner (1) set forth the teachings of the AAPA and Kellogg; (2) generally ascertained
the differences between claim 12 and the AAPA; and (3) determined that it would have
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