Appeal No. 2003-2136 Page 7
Application No. 09/562,952
F.3d 1568, 1573, 37 USPQ2d 1626, 1630 (Fed. Cir. 1996); Para-Ordnance Mfg. v. SGS
Imports Int'l, Inc., 73 F.3d 1085, 1088, 37 USPQ2d 1237, 1240 (Fed. Cir. 1995)).
Here, we find that evidence to combine flows from the references themselves.
Oshima '198 "provide[s] a spark plug in which a noble metal firing tip is positively
bonded to a front end of a center electrode by means of a laser beam welding. . . ."
Col. 1, ll. 43-45. The reference "discloses, as the [firing tip] chip to be bonded, an
iridium alloy. . . ." (Appeal Br. at 8.) More specifically, the "firing tip [chip] 6 is . . . made
of . . . Pt-Ir alloy or iridium-based alloy including oxides of rare earth metals." Col. 4,
ll. 58-61. Although Oshima '198 does not specifically mention that the Ir-based alloy
could include Rh, the reference invites "various modifications and additions to the
specific embodiments [to] be made by [a] skilled artisan. . . ." Col. 6, ll. 65-66.
For its part, Osamura "provide[s] a noble metal chip for a spark plug, the chip
having an improved heat resistance and consumption resistance at high temperatures."
Col. 1, ll. 49-52. "The most important feature of the [reference's] invention resides in the
alloy material of the noble metal chips . . . composed of an Ir-Rh alloy based on Ir
(iridium), which has a high melting point and good consumption resistance, and
containing Rh (rhodium) for preventing Ir from volatilizing at high temperatures." Col. 3,
ll. 29-34. Although "the addition of any of less volatilizable noble metals of Pd, Pt, and
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