Appeal No. 2006-0822
Application No. 10/054,253
in an axial direction. According to the appellant, the alleged compressibility could
cause the binding rings to be plastically compressed in any number of directions
offset from a substantially axial direction relative to the plurality of beveled disc
springs. Id.
Initially, we note that the appellant has not contested the examiner’s
statements that metals are plastically compressible and that the metal binding rings
disclosed by Teeri are plastically compressible when subjected to a force that
exceeds their elastic limit. Instead, the appellant appears to be arguing that there is
no indication in Teeri that plastic compressibility or adjustability of the binding
rings is desirable or that Teeri’s binding rings will always be compressed in an
axial direction relative to the beveled disc springs under application of any force.
While it is true that Teeri gives no indication that plastic compressibility or
adjustability is specifically desired, anticipation does not require that the reference
teach what the subject application teaches, but only that the claim read on
something disclosed in the reference, i.e., that all of the limitations in the claim be
found in or fully met by the reference. Kalman v. Kimberly Clark Corp., 713 F.2d
760, 772, 218 USPQ 781, 789 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1026 (1984).
Claim 16 does not require that the adjustable spacer plastically compress in an
axial direction when subjected to any and every force or under any particular
conditions or that it compress in a completely axial direction. The claim merely
calls for the spacer to be plastically compressible in a substantially axial direction;
it does not specify the conditions under which such compression must occur or
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