Appeal No. 2007-1530
Application 10/095,112
shown) (id. at 2:9-12). The connector housing of the prior art “is made of
lightweight metal, such as aluminum, so that it can have good electrical
conductivity, sufficient strength and so on” (id. at 1:24-2:3). In order to enhance
the electrical conductivity and provide more positive shielding, copper plating is
applied as an undercoat to the entire surface of the connector housing and then tin
plating is applied to the undercoat (id. at 2:3-7). The Specification does not
explain how much of the shielding function is attributable to these plating layers
coatings and how much to the aluminum material of the connector housing.
The Specification mentions the desirability of improving the prior-art
connector housing by reducing its weight and cost:
In the case of using the above shield connector 1 on a shielded
wire for an electric vehicle, it has been desired to achieve a more
lightweight design of the shield connector so as to reduce the weight
of the vehicle to thereby enhance the running performance thereof,
and it has also been desired to reduce the cost of the shield connector.
(Id. at 3:23-4:3.) Furthermore, these goals are to be achieved while retaining
sufficient mechanical strength (id. at 5:22-6:3). Appellants achieve the foregoing
goals by making the connector housing (49 in Fig. 1) from a “metal composite
material comprising lightweight metal 51 and hollow ceramics grains 53 of which
[the] cost is low” (id. at 7:9-11). These hollow ceramics grains are also
characterized as being lightweight (id. at 13:19).
Appellants’ connector housing, like the connector housing of the Admitted
Prior Art, is plated with of copper and tin in order to enhance the electrical
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