Appeal No. 2004-0459
Serial No. 09/652,997
tire to expand the chamber in O’Brien’s tire tread would have led
one of ordinary skill in the art to use an air pressure control in
the line from the primary chamber to the chamber in the tire tread
to prevent overpressuring the chamber in the tire tread.
Accordingly, we affirm the rejection of claim 16 and
claims 17-19 that stand or fall therewith.
Claims 5 and 6
Nakamura discloses a method for forming an anti-skid
projection on a tire tread (page 1). Nakamura forms a cylindrical
indentation (2) in the tire tread, attaches the periphery of a
bent, sheet-like elastic element (3) around the surface of the
indentation at any location in the indentation, and forms within
the indentation a rubber or plastic anti-skidder (4) of any size
and shape on the outer surface of the elastic element (pages 2-3;
figure 1). The anti-skidder is projected by introducing
compressed air into the inner space between the indentation
surface and the elastic element, thereby outwardly deforming the
elastic element so as to push the outer end of the anti-skidder
beyond the tire tread surface (page 2; figure 2).
The examiner argues that to permit formation of a chamber
during otherwise conventional tire formation, it would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, in view of Honda,
Kuan, Harrington and Case, to replace Nakamura’s elastic element,
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