Appeal No. 2003-0065
Application 09/491,284
space the trailing edge of a slider pad from the trailing edge.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art at the time the invention was made to space the pad from
the trailing edge as doing this would decrease the amount of
contact between the disk and pad, thus creating less friction and
wear therebetween."
Appellants argue that claim 13 recites "the wide part of the
V-shaped portion is spaced from the trailing edge," and Brezoczky
"fails to teach or suggest that the single crystal material
should be spaced from the leading or trailing edge of the slider
body" (Br12).
The examiner maintains the rejection (EA8-9).
It is not clear exactly what embodiment is being claimed.
Claim 13 depends on claim 10, which recites a pad in
substantially continuous contact with the medium. Figures 3A and
3B show a V-shaped pad where the wide part is the trailing edge.
The specification states that "[a]lthough Figures 3A and 3B show
the entire slider being shaped in an overall triangular or
V-shape, it should be understood that in some cases only the
front portion or leading section of the contact pad structure may
be shaped in this way" (spec. at 9). We assume appellants are
trying to claim a shape like one of the rails 72 in the flying
slider of Fig. 6B which has a symmetrical knife-edge profile;
that is, the V-shaped portion refers to a distinct portion of the
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