Appeal No. 2002-0500 Page 8
Application No. 09/258,320
Here, Takahashi teaches "a brushless motor for use in a fan." Col. 2, ll. 36. We
find that the brushless motor includes a housing as "a dish-shaped bracket 10 whose
aperture faces up." Id. at ll. 37-38. More specifically, "[t]he bracket 10 is provided with
a bearing holder 12 in the form of a cylinder whose bottom end is closed, wherein the
bearing holder 12 extends upward from the central portion of the bracket 10. A thrust
bearing element holder 14 formed in the shape of a cylinder whose bottom end is
closed is disposed on the bottom of the bearing holder 12." Id. at ll. 38-44. "A thrust
bearing element 20 having a substantially cylindrical shape is fit into the thrust bearing
element holder 14. . . ." Id. at ll. 54-55.
We further find that the bottom face of the reference's bracket indirectly supports
a shaft. Specifically, Figure 1 of Takahashi shows that the bottom face of the
bracket 10 supports the thrust bearing element 20. In turn, "the lower end of [a] rotating
shaft 56 is supported in the axial direction by the upper face of the thrust bearing
element 20." Col. 6, ll. 6-8. Because the bottom face of the bracket supports the thrust
bearing element, and the thrust bearing element supports the thrust of the rotating
shaft, the bottom face of the bracket supports the thrust of the rotating shaft indirectly,
i.e., via the thrust bearing element.
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