Appeal No. 2000-0203
Application No. 08/924,099
invention was made “to add the auxiliary [elastomeric] sealing
member as disclosed by Jelinek into the space of the gasket
[between the flange periphery 38 and the pressure regulation
plate 32] as disclosed by Udagawa et al. for better sealing”
(final rejection, page 3).
This reference combination is reasonable on its face.
Jelinek’s teaching that sealing is facilitated by the use of
elastomeric sealing members filling and projecting upwardly
from recesses in a rigid base plate (see, for example, column
2, lines 37 through 40) would have provided the artisan with
ample suggestion or motivation to add such an elastomeric
sealing member to Udagawa’s gasket in the recess or space
between the periphery 38 of flange 35 and the pressure
regulation plate 32, thereby arriving at the subject matter
recited in claim 1. For the most part, the appellant’s
contention that the rejection is unsound rests on the
individual deficiencies of Udagawa and Jelinek with respect to
the claimed invention. Non-obviousness cannot be established,
however, by attacking references individually where the
rejection is based upon the teachings of a
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