Appeal No. 2004-0575
Application 09/206,005
pressure in the fluid supply line 26 and the annular cavity
56 of the banjo bolt relief valve 44. When this occurs, the
spring 74 moves the ball 72 against the valve seat 71,
thereby sealing the annular cavity 56 from the body portion
50 of the banjo bolt relief valve 44 forcing the
transmission fluid through the transmission fluid cooler 24.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Hayashi et al. (Hayashi) 4,456,310 Jun. 26, 1984
Gilroy et al. (Gilroy) 5,564,317 Oct. 15, 1996
Lamblin (French Patent) 813,272 May. 29, 1937
Claims 1 through 3, 5 and 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
102(b) based on both public use and sale of the invention prior
to the critical date of November 17, 1994.1
1 As noted in the yet to be clerically entered preliminary
amendment filed on even date with this application (i.e.,
December 4, 1998), the present application is a continuation of
U.S. Application No. 08/737,261 (now U.S. Patent No. 5,992,515),
which application was itself the National stage application of
PCT/US95/15085, filed November 17, 1995. PCT/US95/15085 lists
both Canada and the United States as “Designated States.” Under
35 U.S.C. § 363, the United States filing date, for § 102(b)
purposes, of a patent application filed under the Patent
Cooperation treaty (PCT) in which the United States is
designated, is the date of the PCT application, which in the
present case is November 17, 1995. Thus, making the “critical
date” for purposes of our inquiries in the present case November
17, 1994. We also note that this preliminary amendment includes a
claim 12 directed to a method for bypassing a transmission fluid
cooler, which method claim has not been treated by the examiner
and is not subject to this appeal. Nor has independent method
3
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