No. 1998-0549 Page 4
Application No. 08/661,711
examiner takes the position that the former would have been obvious in view of the
Japanese reference, and the latter in view of Matsushita. The appellants argue that
there is no suggestion to combine the references in the manner proposed by the
examiner, and therefore the rejection is defective and should not be sustained.
Dickson discloses a cylinder head gasket construction which comprises a
plurality of annular gaskets 22 that are placed in alignment with the walls of the cylinder.
This alignment is accomplished during installation by either placing the annular gaskets
in recesses 52 in the engine block (Figure 7), or by locating them in the proper position
by means of a locating plate 44 that contains a plurality of openings corresponding with
the cylinders in the engine block, which openings enable the gaskets to be located and
held in position while the cylinder head is installed on the engine block (column 3, lines
28-54; Figures 2 and 3). Dickson does not disclose or teach attaching the peripheral
members (gaskets) to the substrate sheet (locating plate), much less doing so by
means of a weld, as is required by claim 1.
The Japanese reference discloses a gasket for an internal combustion engine
wherein metal compensating members 30 that surround the cylinder openings can be
“fused” to the gasket sheet 10 (translation, pages 9 and 10; Figures 4 and 5).
The examiner has taken the position that it would have been obvious to weld the
Dickson annular gaskets to the locating plate in view of the teaching of the Japanese
reference. We do not agree. The mere fact that the prior art structure could be
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