Appeal No. 2001-2235 Page 6
Application No. 08/699,660
portion of the thread area of, for instance, a bolt (Villo at Fig. 1). In a preferred embodiment,
Villo presses the pellet onto a heated threaded work element 32 by means of plunger 34 so that
the pellet deforms into the threads (Villo at col. 4, l. 50 to col. 5, l. 16; Figs. 8-10). The
Examiner concludes that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have
used a heated male element in the method of Knowlton instead of heating in an oven to expand
the pellet of Knowlton because Villo teaches that heating by use of a ram enhances bonding of
the pellet material to the threaded surfaces (Answer at 6).
The Examiner has not provided a convincing reason, suggestion, or motivation to
combine the teachings of Knowlton ‘610 and Villo in such a way as to lead one of ordinary skill
in the art to the process of claim 1. In the embodiment relied upon by the Examiner, Villo heats
the threaded element 32 to facilitate bonding of the pellet to the threads. Heating the threaded
element would be akin to heating the female threaded fastener of Knowlton to bond the pellet to
the threads of the female fastener. There is no suggestion of heating a ram as suggested by the
Examiner. Furthermore, Villo heats the threaded element to a temperature above the melting
point of the thermoplastic polyamide. There is no suggestion in Villo of heating to “a heat
softened plastically deformable temperature ... below the melting temperature of the sealing
element” as claimed. At best, the combination suggests heating the female fastener of Knowlton
‘610 to a temperature above the melting temperature and using a ram to push the pellet into
engagement with the threads on the female fastener. However, this is not what is claimed nor it
is clear that there would have been a reasonable expectation that bonding would be enhanced as
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