Appeal No. 1997-0500
Application 08/404,704
a manner which would allow the gauge to be removed with the
bezel. In fact, Leone specifically states that his
arrangement “permits the mechanism case to be firmly and
safely gripped around its periphery by the fingers when it is
desired to remove it for setting” [column 2, lines 25-27].
Thus, Leone clearly contemplates that the gauge be removable
by hand but not by the bezel.
Although the examiner noted that the gauge was
removable by hand in the final rejection, the examiner now
takes the position that the entire Leone device can be removed
by the bezel. It appears to be the position of the examiner
that the screwed on bezel of Leone could be forcibly removed
from the base 18 in such a manner that it would take the gauge
10 and housing 12 with it. Although there is no evidence in
Leone that
the entire device is removable from base 18, such a feature of
Leone would not have suggested the claimed invention anyway.
Each of the independent claims on appeal has language
which requires that the bezel have means thereon for removing
the gauge. In claim 1 the “gauge extraction means” is part of
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