Appeal No. 2004-1046
Application No. 09/354,203
[on which a step is attached] so as to provide an intermediate
platform that one may utilize to reach the top platform provided
by the bench.” (Specification, page 1, lines 4-7.) According
to the appellant, “[t]he step of the present invention also
provides a safety feature that substantially lessens the
likelihood that the drywall bench will collapse when supporting
a load.” (Id. at page 1, lines 7-9.) Further details of this
appealed subject matter are recited below in representative
claim 7, which is drafted in Jepson format:
7. In a drywall bench having a bench platform,
folding legs pivotally connected to the bench
platform, support rails connected between the folding
legs and including brackets having rollers rotatably
received thereon, step rails receiving the rollers and
thereby connecting between the support rails such that
the folding legs connected to the support rails may be
pivoted between operative and storage positions, the
rollers being capable of moving within a track
provided by the step rails such that the associated
support rails and folding legs remain connected as the
folding legs are pivoted, locking braces connected
between the bench platform and the support rails to
selectively lock the folding legs into the operative
position, and telescoping legs selectively received by
the folding legs, the improvement comprising:
a support member selectively received by at least
a portion of one of the step rails; a spacer member
extending downwardly from said support member; and a
step member extending from said spacer member such
that said step member lies substantially parallel to
the bench platform.[1]
[1] Because the claim is drafted in Jepson format, the
preamble recitations are “impliedly admitted to be old in the
art.” Cf. In re Ehrreich, 590 F.2d 902, 909-10, 200 USPQ 504,
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007