Appeal No. 2007-0023
Application No. 10/410,854
prevent severe concentration of vibratory stresses at any point
and distribute them over such a large area that the fatigue or
endurance limit of the metal is not exceeded, the pin is undercut
between the last full thread and the body of the rod to a
diameter less than the minor diameter of the threaded section
(page 1, lines 69-72). The surface formed by the undercutting
has smooth transitory curves joining the threaded section and the
body (page 1, lines 73-76).
The examiner argues that “it would have been obvious for one
of ordinary skill in the art to form the device of modified
Nodiere with only a single continuous curve between the head and
thread in view of the teachings of Wescott. A continuous curve
would be advantageous depending upon the particular application”
(answer, page 4). The examiner acknowledges (answer, page 10)
that the examiner’s proposed modification of Nodière is contrary
to Nodière’s requirement that the cross-sectional area at the
deepest point of the thread is equal to the cross-sectional area
of the unthreaded shank at all of its axial points (page 1, left
column, lines 19-26). The examiner argues that “the skilled
artisan would modify Nodiere, admittedly not maintaining the
constant cross-sectional area, to reduce the cross-sectional area
of the shank portion as disclose [sic] in Wescott in order to
further improve the characteristics of the bolt in resisting
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013