Appeal No. 1997-3403
Application No. 08/032,889
the Examiner and find ourselves persuaded by the Examiner’s
reasoning. We find that barrier member 40 of Rodrigues serves
as a grommet and acts as a barrier to moisture getting into
the enclosure 10, see Summary of the Invention. Figures 4 and
5 of Rodrigues show the structure recited in claim 1, as the
Examiner has pointed out above. Members 46 and 48 constitute
the deflectable portions, a part of 48 is the frangible
section joining the diaphragm section and the deflectable
portions. Thus, when a cable 30 is inserted along the line
“l” through the barrier member 40 into the enclosure 10, the
frangible membrane 48 is pierced, though only at the point of
entry, and the deflectable members 46 as well as the membrane
48 close against the cable so that moisture is sealed out from
getting into the enclosure, as happens in the claimed grommet.
Therefore, we sustain the obviousness rejection of claim 1,
and its grouped claims 5, 9, 14 and 15 over Smith and
Rodrigues.
Claims 2, 6 and 10
We consider claim 2 as representative of this group. The
Examiner again combines Smith and Rodrigues. We note that
Smith shows a resilient member 88 with a slit 90. The
10
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007