Appeal No. 97-3297
Application 08/390,973
All three of the claims before us include a molded
plastic operating lever having a bushing portion “integrally
molded in one piece continuous molded together construction with
the molded plastic lever and having a bore for receiving the rod,
retaining fingers molded integral with the bushing portion” and
“a frangible web molded integral in connection between the
bushing portion and the lever.” In other words, the basic
construction set forth in the claims requires that the operating
lever, the bushing portion, the rod retaining fingers and the
frangible web be molded together into an integral one piece
continuous structure.
In Nix, a retainer bushing 10 is installed into a bore
in pushrod 35 by “pressing” (column 6, line 18). There is
nothing to suggest that these components are otherwise attached
together, much less that they are integrally molded in a
continuous structure, as is required by the appellants’ claims.
In fact, in the preferred embodiment, Nix indicates that they are
of different materials (note the cross-hatching in the drawings
and see column 3, lines 40-45). The examiner recognizes this,
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Last modified: November 3, 2007