Appeal No. 2000-2016 Page 6
Application No. 09/209,837
internally threaded length portion (38) adapted to have an operative position disposed in
encircling relation about said adapter cylindrical body with said internal and external
threaded length portions thereof in threaded engagement with each other. There is no
evidence to establish that the Soussloff adapter is incapable of receiving the aiming sight
of a firearm in one of the slots 27, or is incapable of being used to encircle and be
clamped down to grip a cylindrical firearms barrel and attach a grenade launcher thereto,
in accordance with the intended use set out in the last six lines of the appellant’s claim.
In arriving at the conclusion that Soussloff anticipates the claim, we have
considered all of the appellant’s arguments. Our position with regard to them should be
apparent. With regard to the argument regarding the problem of accommodating different
barrel diameters of firearms, we point out that the claim merely requires that the adapter
bore be “slightly oversized” with respect to the specified outside diameter of the cylindrical
element to which it is being attached, and that such is the case in the Soussloff adapter.
The Rejection Under Section 103
In this rejection, the examiner concludes that the subject matter of claim 1 is
unpatentable over Cox in view of Soussloff. The test for obviousness is what the combined
teachings of the prior art would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art. See, for
example, In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881 (CCPA 1981). In
establishing a prima facie case of obviousness, it is incumbent upon the examiner to
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