Ex parte BRIAN E. FITZGERALD et al. - Page 6




          Appeal No. 96-0814                                                          
          Application 08/066,331                                                      


          lever when the pin 23 is moved into the hole 30 in the crank arm.           
          Rather, the examiner seems to be of the view that the disclosure            
          is not enabling because one of ordinary skill in the art would              
          not know how to make a frictional locking mechanism that utilizes           
          the resulting movement of the lever to release the locking                  
          mechanism.  Although appellants’ disclosure does not specifically           
          set forth the construction of the frictional locking mechanism,             
          nor how it would cooperate with the dogleg-lever 31 to allow for            
          release of the locking mechanism when the pin engages the upper             
          end of the lever, such details would appear to be a rather simple           
          and straightforward matter.  The examiner has not advanced any              
          reason, nor is any apparent, why a person of ordinary skill in              
          the art, as of the date of appellants’ application, would not               
          have been able to practice the method of independent claim 1, and           
          claims 4-6 and 9 which depend therefrom without undue                       
          experimentation, and in particular the steps of releasing and re-           
          engaging the frictional locking mechanism as called for in claim            
          1, and the step of unlocking the fixture as a function of the               
          axial position of the lug, as called for in dependent claim 9.              
          Accordingly, we will not sustain the standing 35 U.S.C. § 112,              
          first paragraph, rejection of claims 1, 4-6 and 9.                          



                                          6                                           





Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007