Appeal No. 2004-1076 Page 4
Application No. 09/684,893
at best, a conventional oil pan and a transfer case completely separate from the oil pan.
Kusukawa's transfer case 40 comprises a case body 40a integrally connected with a
transmission case 26c, a side case 40c integrally connected with the case body 40a
through an adapter 40b by means of connecting bolts 41a and a rear case
40d integrally connected with the case body 40a by means of connecting bolts 41b.
In the rejection before us in this appeal, the examiner concluded (answer, p. 3)
that it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the
invention was made to form the transfer case of Kondoo with "a first transfer case
housing portion and a second transfer case housing portion as in order to ensure a
clearance with respect to adjacent apparatus and to further improve the sealing
performance of the structural case as taught by Kusukawa et al (col. 7 lines 27-34)."
In our view, the combined teachings of Kondoo and Kusukawa would not have
made it obvious at the time the invention was made to a person of ordinary skill in the
art to have arrived at the subject matter of claims 1, 6 and 7. The applied prior art fails
to disclose or suggest an engine oil pan unitarily formed with a first transfer case
housing portion adapted to be secured to a second transfer case housing portion
wherein the first and second transfer case housing portions combine to form a complete
transfer case housing. The applied prior art is devoid of any engine oil pan integrally
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