Appeal No. 97-1242
Application 08/226,521
enables the leaves of the bellows (Figure 1), as well as the
diaphragms of corrugated form (Figure 3), to fully nest to
withstand great pressure upon a further heating (superheating)
and overpressurization of the volatile fluid after the closing
of the trap (valve member seating). The Clayton patent does not
overcome the deficiency of the Yumoto and Stalker patents.
NEW GROUND OF REJECTION
Under the authority of 37 CFR § 1.196(b), this panel of
the board introduces the following new ground of rejection.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Yumoto in view of Jones.
The patent to Yumoto (Figures 1 through 4) addresses
the claimed invention but for a curved region on the upper
surface of the lower disk-shaped wall member 18 corresponding to
the wave configuration of the diaphragm member 15, 16.
The Jones patent informs us (page 2, column 2, lines 28
through 57, and page 3, column 1, lines 40 through 46) that in
the steam trap art, at the time of appellant’s invention, it was
known to provide a rigid backing with annular concentric ribs
corresponding to the configuration of a movable disc-like member
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