Appeal No. 2002-1876
Application 09/358,158
the full locking arms to thereby set the elastic forces of the
partial locking arms smaller than those of the full locking
arms." The partial locking arm and the full locking arm have
identical length and identical cross sectional dimensions.
Atsumi '565 discusses the problem in the prior art that if the
retainer in the provisionally-retained (partial locking) position
is accidentally urged into the completely-retained (full locking)
position, the terminal cannot be inserted and a tool must be used
to release engagement with the completely-retained position,
which release operation is inefficient (Background of the
Invention, col. 1, lines 26-44). Atsumi '565's solution to the
problem is not relevant to this appeal.
The prior art Figs. 9-11 of Atsumi '552 is stated to be from
Japanese Laid-Open Publication 04-127976 (col. 1, lines 7-8).
Counsel for appellants indicated at oral hearing that the number
of this document is in error and that they were not able to
obtain a copy of the document. We did our own search, varying
one number at a time (assuming the number was off in only one
place) (i.e., substituting 01-10 for 04 in the year position;
0 and 2 for the 1 position; and 0-9 for each of the other
positions for a total of 56 alternative documents) and likewise
were not able to find a corresponding document showing a
connector. We then ordered the Atsumi '552 file and verified
that the number is correctly printed. However, in the
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