Appeal No. 2002-1394
Application No. 09/109,132
Claim 2 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Daniel, Ohkjita, and Kawakami.
We refer to the Final Rejection (Paper No. 11) and the Examiner’s Answer
(Paper No. 19) for a statement of the examiner’s position and to the Brief (Paper No.
18) for appellants’ position with respect to the claims which stand rejected.
OPINION
The section 103 rejection of claims 1 through 3 refers to the magnetic disk device
of Daniel, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, including “two fixing screws connecting cover 6
and yokes.” The examiner deems Daniel to be silent as to an attaching member for
attaching a first yoke to a base “such that the first yoke and a second yoke are
positioned between the cover and a base.” The rejection turns to Ohkjita, in particular
relying on fixing screw 12 connecting yokes 37 and 38 to base 6. The examiner finds
that it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Ohkjita with those of
Daniel, thus to firmly secure “the first yoke and the actuator assembly to the disk device
housing.” (Final Rejection at 3-4.)
Instant claim 1 requires both an attaching member for attaching the first yoke to
the base and a fixing screw to connect the cover, the second yoke and the first yoke to
the base. Figure 1 of Daniel shows several fasteners connecting cover 6 to base 4.
One fastener through cover 6 appears to insert into pivot shaft 20. Another appears to
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