1 detackify, inter alia, a tacky styrene block fish lure. Applicant's use of
2 CAB-O-SILŪ in place of other known detackifiers was well within the skill
3 of a person having ordinary skill in the art. Cf. Hotchkiss v. Greenwood,
4 11 How. (52 U.S.) 248 (1850) (substitution of clay knob for metal and wood
5 knobs held to lack that degree of skill and ingenuity which constitute
6 essential elements of every [unobvious] invention; 2 in other words, the
7 improvement is the work of the skillful mechanic, not that of an "inventor."
8 We recognize that applicant believes that he has discovered a different
9 and new function through the use of CAB-O-SILŪ fused silica, viz, a
10 "permanent" coating. However, as discussed above, we are unable on this
11 record to tell how applicant's coating is any more permanent that the silicone
12 oil coatings used in the prior art. There is no objective evidence, such as
13 credible scientific data, to compare the "permanency" of prior art coatings
14 vis-ā-vis applicant's "permanency." Cf. Eibel Process Co. v. Minnesota &
15 Ontario Paper Co., 261 U.S. 45, 43 S. Ct. 322 (1923) (improved Fourdrinier
16 machines which reached speeds of 600-700 feet per minute when the prior
17 art at best had only reached 500 feet per minute); Webster Loom Co. v.
18 Higgins, 105 U.S. 580 (1881) (improved loom which produced 50 yards per
19 day when the prior art had been able to do only 40 yards per day).
20 Moreover, an inventor must show with conclusive evidence that the results
21 the inventor says the inventor gets with his invention are actually obtained
22 with the invention. See McClain v. Ortmayer, 141 U.S. 419, 429, 12 S. Ct.
2 Today we would say "unobvious invention." See In re Jacoby, 309 F.2d 513, 516 n.3,
135 USPQ 317, 318-19 n.3 (CCPA 1962), where Judge Rich writing for the CCPA states:
"To add to the statement it must be unobvious, as required by 35 U.S.C. § 103, the further
statement that it must 'involve invention' is merely to state the same legal proposition in
two different ways. It would seem to suffice to state it once, and that, preferably, in the
words of the statute."
19
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