Appeal No. 1999-1812
Application No. 08/692,761
invention is patentable, resort to speculation, unfounded
assumptions or hindsight reconstruction to supply deficiencies
in the factual basis. Id.
In the present case, the examiner concedes (answer, page
6) that Naito does not address the use of a removable fastener
for selectively detachably securing at least one of the links
8, 8A to the rollers 10, 23. In an effort to fill this gap in
the evidentiary basis, the examiner states, without support,
that “disassembly of parts is a well known feature for
allowing . . . insertion of a rope or cable in a hoist”
(answer, page 5). This is improper. Warner, supra. As to
the examiner’s observation that an ordinarily skilled artisan
would be familiar with the use of various removable fasteners
such as lug nuts and wing nuts for fastening things together;
even if accepted, this circumstance does not suffice to
establish the obviousness of the claimed subject matter as a
whole, which involves the use of a particular fastener means
(means for selectably detachable removal) in a particular
environment (cable hoist controllers) at a particular location
(the connection of the linkage means to the rollers) for a
particular purpose (to facilitate placement of the cable
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