Appeal No. 2003-1178 Page 3
Application No. 09/218,990
respective positions articulated by the appellants and the examiner. As a consequence
of our review, we make the determinations which follow.
The appellants’ invention is directed to improvements in the tension members
used for lifting and lowering elevators. It provides a flat tension member that, according
to the appellants, distributes the load better than the prior art devices and is more
flexible, allowing sheaves of smaller diameters to be used, which reduces the torque
required to drive the sheaves (specification, pages 1-3). The invention is defined in
claim 1 in the following manner:
1. A tension member for providing lifting force to a car of an
elevator system, comprising:
a plurality of discrete cords, constructed from a plurality of
individual wires, wherein all wires are less than .25
millimeters in diameter, said plurality of cords being
arranged side-by-side;
a coating layer substantially enveloping said plurality of
cords and having an aspect ratio defined as the ratio of
width w relative to thickness t, greater than one.
The Examiner’s Rejections
The test for obviousness is what the combined teachings of the prior art would
have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art. See, for example, In re Keller,
642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881 (CCPA 1981). In establishing a prima facie
case of obviousness, it is incumbent upon the examiner to provide a reason why one of
ordinary skill in the art would have been led to modify a prior art reference or to
combine reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention. See Ex parte Clapp,
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