Appeal No. 96-1511
Application 08/063,919
underside thereof, for attaching the tube holder to the
surface of the can 5. . . .
A pair of spaced apart, upstanding tube grasping
members 18 and 19, are integrally connected to the top
surface of the base 14. As best seen in FIG. 3, a
spacing 15 between the members 18 and 19 is suitably
dimensioned to receive the rodlike tube 12 therewithin.
The spacing 15 has at the top edges of the members 18
and 19, a width H which is just slightly less than the
outside diameter of the tube 12. As shown in FIG. 3,
the members 18 and 19 are inclined slightly toward one
another, and are composed of resilient material [column
4, line 45 through column 5, line 3].
As best illustrated in Figure 2, the base 14 has a
rectangular shape defined by a pair of relatively long opposite
lateral edges and relatively short opposite end edges.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the
art to modify the holder device disclosed by Copell by providing
it with a rectangular base portion having opposite lateral edges
and adhesive on its bottom surface as taught by Engvall in order
to adapt the device for adhesive connection to an underlying
support surface. The resulting holder device would meet all of
the limitations in claims 1, 2, 7 and 9.
It also would have been an obvious matter of design choice
within the skill of the art to make Copell’s semi-circular
recesses 13 triangular in cross-section as recited in claim 8.
The triangular recess cross-section has not been disclosed or
9
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