Appeal No. 2007-0023
Application No. 10/410,854
Along the axis of the bolt b and throughout the length of
its body or shank, a bore a is provided which in itself in
the parallel portions of the shank reduces the cross-
sectional area of the unthreaded body or shank to a value
equal to that of the core of the threaded portion, measured
between the deepest points of the threads, the outer
diameter of the shank remaining the same as the outer
diameter of this threaded portion. This unthreaded shank of
the bolt is provided with annular grooves or depressions c
which form ring portions c’ and modify the linearity of the
mid-fibre along the length of the bolt and give it a wavy
shape such that this mid-fibre stretches yieldingly to a
greater extent than if it were linear. [page 2, left column,
lines 27-42]
As shown in Nodière’s figure 1, the hollow portion of the shank
does not extend all the way through the bolt but, rather, extends
only from the inner end of the head to the inner end of the
threaded portion. Nodière does not indicate how a bolt having
that hollow portion is made.
Taylor discloses a hollow bolt that is formed from a piece
of tubing, has an opening all the way through it, and has a
shouldered or square head having an enlarged recess or opening
(page 1, lines 20-27; figure 1).
The examiner argues that “it would have been obvious to one
of ordinary skill in the art to form the fastener of Nodiere to
be hollow the entire length thereof as discloses [sic] in Taylor
because such would greatly simplify the manufacture of the
fastener” (answer, page 4). Nodière’s bolt, the examiner argues,
likely is made by a complicated process such as forming the
4
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Last modified: September 9, 2013