Appeal No. 2002-1569 Page 3
Application No. 09/356,431
The appellant’s invention is an improvement to wet disc brake assemblies. It
utilizes in the brake housing a fluid which changes its viscosity upon application of
electric current thereto, in order to increase the drag upon the brake discs and thus
provide braking force. Claim 1 sets forth the invention in the following manner.
1. A reduced drag wet disc brake assembly comprising:
a brake housing defining a cavity;
a hub rotatingly connected to said brake housing;
at least one rotating plate disposed within said cavity and rotatingly
connected to said hub;
at least one non-rotating plate disposed within said cavity adjacent said at
least one rotating plate and connected to said brake housing;
a current source selectively connected to said housing; and
a fluid filling said cavity which has a viscosity that can be controlled by
application of said current source.
Looking first to independent claim 1, the examiner is of the view that Heidenreich
discloses all of the subject matter recited except for the current source and the fluid that
has a viscosity controlled by the application of current. However, the examiner’s
position is that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify
the Heidenreich system by replacing the fluid disclosed therein with the claimed current
responsive fluid in view of the teachings of Daniels. The appellant has provided several
arguments in opposition to this conclusion, including the assertion that Daniels is not
analogous art, that the examiner’s understanding of the teachings of Daniels is not
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