Ex parte POTTER - Page 11




          Appeal No. 96-1881                                                          
          Application No. 08/095,476                                                  


          is first whether the art is within the field of the inventor’s              
          endeavor and, if not, whether it is reasonably pertinent to the             
          problem with which the inventor was involved.  In re Wood, 599              
          F.2d 1032, 1036, 202 USPQ 171, 174 (CCPA 1979).  A reference is             
          reasonably pertinent if, even though it may be in a different               
          field of endeavor, it logically would have commended itself to an           
          inventor’s attention in considering his problem because of the              
          matter with which it deals.  In re Clay, 966 F.2d 656, 659, 23              
          USPQ2d 1058, 1061 (Fed. Cir. 1992).  In the present instance, we            
          are informed by the appellant's originally filed specification              
          (p. 3) that by practicing the method of the present invention, a            
          bladder can be fabricated quickly, easily, and at low cost.  The            
          method that accomplishes those results is stated to involve                 
          selectively forming a number of chambers with an elastomeric                
          material, such that each chamber is in fluid communication with             
          the others.  Thereafter, the interior is supplied with an amount            
          of fluid, so that the chambers are all pressurized at the same              
          desired level.  The fluid communication is then sealed so that              
          each of the chambers is separated from the other chambers.  Casey           
          teaches (1) that inflatable cushions can easily be prepared which           
          have individual chambers in any of a large variety of desired               


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