Appeal No. 2002-1401
Application No. 09/187/226
themselves appear to have suggested the claimed subject matter to
one of ordinary skill in the art.
We therefore reverse the rejection of claim 15 and
claims 16-18 which depend therefrom.
Claims 21, 22 and 24
The appellants’ independent claim 21, and claims 22 and 24
which depend therefrom, require, between the base material and
the covering layer, an intermediate underlayer comprising about
5% nickel.
FR ‘878 discloses a nickel nitride or nickel aluminide
adhesive layer between an aluminum or aluminum alloy substrate
and an abrasion resistant layer of a material such as Al2O3 or
TiO2 (pages 1, 5 and 6).
The examiner argues that FR ‘878 teaches that the adhesive
layer provides better matching of the linear expansion
coefficient between the aluminum or aluminum alloy substrate and
the abrasion resistant layer (answer, page 9). This teaching
clearly is not in the abstract relied upon by the examiner; nor
is it in the FR ‘878 translation. The examiner also makes the
unsupported argument that the coefficient of linear expansion of
the FR ‘878 adhesive layer is between that of the substrate and
the abrasion resistant layer (answer, pages 9-10).
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