Appeal No. 1998-1357
Application No. 08/348,744
hour fire wall rating. The examiner concludes that:
[t]he wall spacings and fire rating would have been
obvious matters of choice in the above set forth
devices, motivated by the intended use and code
standards intended to be met (answer, page 5).
Essentially, it is the examiner's position that one of
ordinary skill in the art would have known that the thickness
of the insulation of the heated tank or boiler of Kettlewell
is dependent upon the specific use of the tank and the
required fire wall rating.
For our reasons discussed with regard to claim 108, we
are convinced that a person of ordinary skill in the art would
have known that mica has beneficial fireproof properties
absent any specific teaching in the reference. Furthermore,
artisans must be presumed to know something about the art
apart from what the references discloses (In re Jacoby, 309
F.2d 513, 516, 135 USPQ 317, 319 (CCPA 1962)) and the
conclusion of obviousness may be made from "common knowledge
and common sense" of the person of ordinary skill in the art
(In re Bozek, 416 F.2d 1385, 1390, 163 USPQ 545, 549 (CCPA
1969)). Moreover, skill is presumed on the part of those
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