Appeal No. 95-0125
Application 07/818,162
In applying the test for obviousness, we reach the 7
conclusion that it would have been obvious to one having
ordinary skill in the art, from a combined consideration of
the applied references, to replace the glass cylinder and
mercury bearing slide arrangement of the Michelson
interferometer taught by the IBM Bulletin, with a glass
cylinder and graphite slide arrangement; the interferometer of
the IBM Bulletin apparently having typical features as
represented by the Auth teaching, for example. In our
opinion, the incentive on the part of one having ordinary
skill in the art for making this modification would have
simply been to take advantage of an alternative, known (Airpot
reference) bearing arrangement (glass-graphite) for its
expected benefits. In light of the above, the content of
claims 1 and 23 would have been obvious. Considering each of
dependent claims 2 through 10 and 24 through 28, we consider
the knowledge and level of skill in the art, as revealed by
7The test for obviousness is what the combined teachings
of references would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in
the art. See In re Young, 927 F.2d 588, 591, 18 USPQ2d 1089,
1091 (Fed. Cir. 1991) and In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208
USPQ 871, 881 (CCPA 1981).
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007