Appeal No. 2001-0300
Application 08/819,527
BACKGROUND
The invention relates to a formable coil for an AC current
sensor.
Claim 10, the sole independent claim, is reproduced below.
10. An AC current sensor having a coil structure for
sensing current in a conductor, said coil structure
comprising:
a wire wound in a predetermined number of turns, with a
uniform mean turn area of wire for each turn, at a constant
pitch over a predetermined length along a longitudinal axis
in passes in opposite directions along said longitudinal
axis to provide an elongate coil structure wherein a number
of turns in each pass is defined by said predetermined
length divided by said constant pitch, a number of passes in
each direction is defined by said predetermined number of
turns divided by said number of turns in each pass, and a
diameter of said wire is defined by said constant pitch
divided by said number of passes in one direction, so that
gaps between adjacent turns of wire in any pass are
substantially completely filled in with turns of wire in
other passes,
wherein said coil structure is flexible along said
length while maintaining substantially constant uniformity
of mean turn area and number of turns per unit length.
The examiner relies on the following references:
Steen 3,449,703 June 10, 1969
Montross 3,489,974 January 13, 1970
Edwards 5,057,769 October 15, 1991
Claims 10-12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
being unpatentable over Steen, Montross, and Edwards.
We refer to the examiner's answer (Paper No. 23) (pages
referred to as "EA__") for a statement of the examiner's
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