Appeal No. 2005-0028
Application No. 09/489,602
tensile forces and the other connecting member will carry mostly
compressive forces during use. In column 1, lines 50-58, Schmidt
indicates that
[d]ue to this separation of load-carrying functions,
structural properties such as, for example, stiffness and
strength of the connecting members can be advantageously
optimized. For example, each of the connecting members can
be precisely and selectively dimensioned such that the
tension-carrying member may have a thicker cross section
than that of the compression-carrying member since the
compressive strength of a material far exceeds the tensile
strength of the same material.
Thus, notwithstanding the teaching in Bezin of a hollow
fiber reinforced resin tubular crank arm structure having a lower
weight than a conventional straight double ended crank arm, given
the disclosure in Schmidt of providing solid cross-section
connecting members (2, 3) arranged in a generally triangulated
pattern and the recognition of significant advantages to be
derived therefrom, we are of the view that it would not have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
appellant’s invention to modify the connecting members of
Schmidt’s triangular type crank arm structure to have a hollow
cross-section, or to be formed as a multi-piece assembly, as
urged by the examiner.
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