Appeal No. 2002-0500 Page 2
Application No. 09/258,320
A rotary shaft 109 extends through, and is as rotatably supported by, the sleeve. (Id.
at 1-2.) A fan 108 is mounted to the shaft 109.
The sleeve features dynamic-pressure-generating grooves 113. Oil 114 is
provided to the grooves to lubricate the sleeve and the shaft. (Id. at 2.) A stopper
washer 110 mounted to the rotating shaft prevents the fan from "coming off from the
bearing." (Id. at 3.) A thrust sheet 107 and a thrust plate 106 are fixedly press-fitted
into the frame to support the shaft axially. The appellants explain that when changes in
temperature produce a gap between the thrust plate and the frame, oil spills therefrom.
(Id.) Because the thrust plate is separate from the frame, they add, "the flatness of the
bottom face of frame 101 is difficult to improve, which reduces adherence between th[e]
cooling device" and a semiconductor 300 to be cooled. (Id.)
Figures 1-3 of the appellants' specification show their cooling fan. In contrast to
the aforementioned fan, the appellants use the bottom face of their frame housing 41
as a thrust supporter 70. (Appeal Br. at 2.) Because their thrust supporter is unitary
with the bottom of the frame housing, the appellants assert, oil is prevented from
leaking. (Id. at 3.) They add that the unitary formation improves flatness of the bottom
face, thereby improving adherence between the cooling device and a semiconductor
300 to be cooled. (Spec. at 12.) The fan blades 8 of the appellants' cooling device
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