Appeal No. 97-0695
Application No. 08/273,466
On page 6 of the answer, the examiner determined that
[i]t would have been obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art at the time of the invention
was made to modify the barbs (24) of Janssen as
suggested by Ager because they both are
recognized ways of retaining a pad on a handle.
Claims 4 through 6 depend directly or indirectly on
independent claim 3. Accordingly, we must first determine if
the subject matter of claim 3 is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 over Janssen in view of Ager. The teachings of Janssen
have been previously set forth.
Ager discloses an applicator stick used in surgical
treatments of the body. The stick 10 is made of wood. As
shown in Figure 4, the applicator stick 10 is roughened by
barbing the end of the stick to provide barbs 17 thereon,
arranged in circular rows with the barbs of alternate rows
offset respectively with the barbs of the rows therebetween. 4
The barbs 17 prevent removal of a pledget of cotton 14 from
4See column 2, lines 33-40, of Ager.
13
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