Appeal 2007-0689
Application 10/329,825
applied by the Examiner to form the air spring piston of any of Hoffman,
Ebert, and Hillburger as a longitudinal-seam welded tube in the manner
taught by Holman. The Examiner’s rejection of claim 9, and claims 11-15
depending from claim 9, cannot be sustained.
Appellants admit that tubes made of either steel or aluminum were
known, at the time of Appellants’ invention, for use as air suspension pistons
(Specification [0006]) and that steel tube pistons are longitudinal-seam
welded and drawn (Specification [0007]). Appellants also admit that
aluminum tube pistons are extruded and drawn (Specification [0009]).
Appellants additionally admit that German published application DE 41 42
325 A1 discloses longitudinal-seam welded tubes made from self-hardened
or hardenable aluminum alloy blanks for the production of chassis members
(Specification [0015]). Upon return of jurisdiction of the present application
to the Examiner, the Examiner may wish to consider whether German
published application DE 41 42 325 A1, either alone or in combination with
Appellants’ admissions, contains any teaching or suggestion to produce an
air suspension piston comprising a longitudinal-seam welded tube made
from a self-hardened aluminum alloy.
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Last modified: September 9, 2013