Appeal No. 96-0733
Application 08/173,805
Luenberger - sealant (grease) in a cavity with an electrical
connector.
Debbaut - encapsulated gel in a cavity with an electrical
connector.
Carlisle - a protective cover on an electrical outlet box.
Narozny - insulation displacement electrical contacts.
The examiner has set forth his position on pages 4 through 6 of
the Answer. From our perspective, what this basically amounts to
is that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to make the housing (212) which surrounds the Chan
"separate pair of electrical contacts" (214) of elastomeric
material in view of the teachings of Cairns and Witek, and to
fill that housing with gel sealing material, in view of the use
of such material in the terminal portion (22) of Chan, as well as
in Luenberger and Debbaut. The other references have been cited
with regard to additional structure recited in the dependent
claims.
The appellants take issue with the examiner's theory, the
cornerstone of their argument being that there is no teaching in
any of the references to utilize sealing gel or the like in both
the terminal and the separate plug, much less to construct these
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007