Appeal No. 2005-2393
Application No. 10/228,392
ratio may vary up or down depending upon the desired flex
rating of a particular shaft, plus the desired total length
of the club in which the shaft is installed. (Emphasis
added).
Given the above teachings, we concur with the examiner that
to a set of golf club shafts formed of a composite butt section
and a metal tip section, one of ordinary skill in the art,
following the teachings of Dillard, Whitaker and Pompa, would
have been led to provide progressively decreasing lengths of
metal tip sections as the overall lengths of the shafts are
progressively increased, motivated by a reasonable expectation of
successfully increasing shaft flexibilities in a direct relation
to the increased overall shaft lengths for the purposes of
improving ball striking range potentials (increased flexibility
for longer shafts) or accurate ball control (decreased
flexibility for shorter shafts).
With respect to the specific proportions or sizes of the
metal tip section to the total shaft length (remainder of which
is made up of the composite butt section) recited in claims 1, 10
and 20, Pompa and Whitaker teach that they affect flexibilities
(distance) and stiffness (accuracy) of the shafts as indicated
supra. Thus, we determine that it would have been obvious for an
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