Appeal No. 2002-2024
Application No. 09/197,404
In rejecting claims 1 through 3, 6 through 13, 16 through 18
and 20 through 22 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable
over Wallace '679 or Daugherety '819 in view of Narkon, the
examiner has urged (answer, pages 3-5) that Wallace '679 and
Daugherety '819 each teach all the limitations of the above-noted
claims except for a connection assembly with a single retainer
and a one piece liner having a substantially spherical inner
surface and an outer spherical surface. To account for these
differences the examiner turns to Narkon, pointing to Figure 2
and urging that this patent teaches use of a single retainer and
one piece liner member having a substantially spherical inner
surface in cooperation with a portion of the inner surface of the
aperture in an articulated joint or bearing assembly.3 From
these teachings, the examiner concludes that it would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
appellant's invention to modify Wallace '679 or Daugherety '819
to include the use of a retainer member engageable with at least
3 Although the examiner does not identify in the rejection
exactly what elements of Narkon are being referred to, we note
page 8 of the answer wherein the examiner contends that Narkon
teaches
a single retainer (16) and a one piece liner member
(26) which in cooperation with a portion of the inner
surface of the outer race member (14) of the articulate
joint assembly disclosed by Narkon et al.
55
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