Appeal No. 1999-2727
Application No. 08/809,315
applied to the blade during the original manufacture of the
stick, the blade is typically dipped into an epoxy, coated
with fiberglass, and again dipped into an epoxy. After the
second dipping in the epoxy adhesive resin, “the grit may be
applied to the blade ... by dipping, sprinkling, spraying or
the like.”
The examiner recognizes that Spratt discusses only two
(corundum and glass) of the seven grain materials recited in
the claims and, further, appears to teach use of these
materials in the alternative, rather than in combination.
However, the examiner asserts that “[a]ll of the materials
[recited in the claims] are commonly known, and to the
ordinarily skilled artisan any or all of them would have been
suitable for use as the grit material for Spratt’s coating”
(Paper No. 7, page 2). The examiner adds, on pages 3-4 of the
answer, that
[t]he ordinarily skilled artisan considering
Spratt would have obviously recognized that all
manner of grain materials would have been suitable
for Spratt’s grit. The fact that Spratt only
denotes several, when literally thousands would
suggest themselves, does not indicate that
appellant’s particular grit would have been
unobvious. The choice of a known material suitable
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