Appeal No. 2005-0648
Application No. 09/824,980
wherein the stator segment core and winding wire define a slot
fill between 70 and 95 percent. Regarding this deficiency, the
examiner indicates that McCann evinces the desirability of
increased slot fill in a switched reluctance motor (e.g., see
lines 55-67 in column 5) and that Ackermann teaches induction
motor slot fills approaching 70 percent are common (see lines 15-
16 in column 2). Under these circumstances, the examiner
concludes that it would have been obvious for an artisan to
provide the modified Kliman motor with a slot fill of 70 percent
or above in order to obtain the art recognized benefits of
increased slot fill based on the teachings of McCann and
Ackermann.
The appellants argue that the examiner’s obviousness
conclusion is improper because “neither McCann or Ackermann show,
teach or suggest a switched reluctance electric machine with a
segmented stator and with a slot fill of 70-95 percent” (brief,
page 10; also see page 9 of the reply brief). The infirmity of
this argument is that it is focused on the deficiencies of the
applied references considered individually. It is well settled,
however, that, where (as here) a rejection is based on a
combination of references, nonobviousness cannot be shown by
attacking the references individually. In re Keller, 642 F.2d
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