Appeal No. 2002-1822
Application No. 09/197,164
In rejecting claims 1 through 8, 11 through 15 and 20
through 31 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Wallace '679 in view of Narkon, the examiner has urged (answer,
page 3) that Wallace '679 teaches all the limitations of claims
1-8, 11-15 and 20-31 except for a connection assembly with a
retainer member engageable with at least a portion of the inner
surface of a male connecting member forming a substantially
spherical inner surface including a portion of the inner surface
of the male connection member. To account for this difference,
the examiner turns to Narkon, pointing to Figure 2 and urging
that this patent teaches use of a retainer member engageable with
at least a portion of the inner surface of a male connecting
member forming a substantially spherical inner surface including
a portion of the inner surface of the male connection member in
an articulate joint assembly.3 From these teachings, the
3 Although the examiner does not identify in the rejection
exactly what elements of Narkon are being referred to, we note
page 9 of the answer wherein the examiner contends that
it's factual and accurate that Narkon et al discloses a
male connecting member capable of receiving a one piece
liner member in his bearing assembly. The outer race
member (14) of Narkon can be viewed as a male member in
which a one piece liner member (16) is received.
Narkon et al reference should be viewed as a whole and
the drawings clearly show a male connecting member
capable of receiving a one piece liner member which
(continued...)
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