Appeal No. 2005-1126
Application No. 09/846,141
THE REJECTION
Claims 2 through 18 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
as being unpatentable over Francois in view of Andersen.
Attention is directed to the main and reply briefs (Paper
Nos. 14 and 18) and answer (Paper No. 15) for the respective
positions of the appellants and examiner regarding the merits of
this rejection.
DISCUSSION
Francois, the examiner’s primary reference, discloses a
torsion bar for use in an automobile suspension. The bar
comprises a glass filament-wound epoxy resin torsion tube 10
having external splines 12 at each of its end regions 11a, back-
up reinforcing cylinders or sleeves 16, 16' disposed within the
end portions of the tube, and a pair of structural members 13
having internal splines 14 mating with the external splines on
the end portions of the tube. The glass filament-wound epoxy
resin construction of the tube consists of “continuous filaments
in successive plies oriented at equal but opposite angles of
about 40° to 50°, preferably about 45°, with respect to the axis
of the tube” (column 2, lines 16 through 19).
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