Appeal No. 95-4860
Application No. 08/044,923
obvious to provide the device of O’Connor with an intermediate
support as taught by Streich at 78. We do not agree. While
the member 78 of O’Connor may broadly be considered a support,
this member 78 is attached to a removable plug which is
initially positioned in the conductor pipe of an offshore
production platform and serves to keep the removable plug in
the center of the pipe (and thus reduce the possibility of the
removable plug sticking in the conductor pipe) as it is drawn
through the conductor pipe when the removable plug is to be
removed from the conductor pipe (see column 5, lines 41-51).
On the other hand, O’Connor is directed to a plunger apparatus
for removing obstructions in sewer and water-closet pipes. To
this end, an expandable seal (C) is coupled to a first shaft
(f) and an expandable plunger head
(B), which may be expanded to fit various sizes of pipe, is
attached to a second shaft (A) which is reciprocally mounted
within the first shaft. In use the, the expandable plunger
head (B) of O’Connor is (1) adjusted to fit the size of the
pipe in which it is employed, (2) the expandable plunger head
(B) and expandable seal (C) are inserted into the pipe, (3)
the expandable seal (C) is expanded into sealing relationship
8
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