Appeal No. 2002-2033 Page 6
Application No. 08/894,063
Figure 11, torque is transmitted between the sides of the six engaged splines and
surfaces of the recesses. There is no teaching in Stolarczyk of the system also being
able to accommodate a second drive having a different configuration, much less a
square drive having dimensions from the group specified in the claim. Nor, from our
perspective, is it apparent that a square drive could be utilized in place of the disclosed
six-segment drive.
Thus, Stolarczyk fails to disclose (1) four inner wall segments disposed on a
square which corresponds to a square drive having the claimed dimensions, (2) four
splines projecting radially outward from the respective corners of the square, and (3)
the profile over the entire useful height of the female component being such that the
lateral edges of the splines comprise driving surfaces that cooperate with conjugated
surfaces of a male component and the inner wall segments of the square comprise
driving surfaces that cooperate with a square drive component.
Spagnoli is directed to an improved screw and screwdriver. The objective of the
invention is to allow the screw to be held by the screwdriver “in any position in space”
(translation, page 3), and in order to accomplish this goal the screwdriver is provided
with four radial ribs that “flare out obliquely” in order to increase the contact area
between the screwdriver and cooperating slots in the recess of the head of the screw
(translation, page 6). This provides a friction fit between the recess in the screw and
the ribs of the screwdriver. There is no teaching in Spagnoli of utilizing a driver having
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