Appeal No. 97-2480
Application 08/296,122
the method now claimed would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art based upon the explicit teaching by
Meier of measuring weight en route to obtaining a desired
sausage size, and the common knowledge of feedback principles
as likewise exemplified by Meier. To obtain a weight
measurement, it is quite apparent to us that those having
ordinary skill in the art would have turned to a weighing
scale, for example. With a weight analysis as the basis for
achieving a desired sausage size, the weight of the encased
product, as claimed, would clearly not be computed by a pump.
The argument advanced by appellants in the brief (pages 3
through 5) fails to persuade us that the examiner erred in
rejecting claim 14 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. The brief (page 4)
addresses the Meier teaching of weighing as conceptual. We
disagree. Akin to appellants’ broad disclosure of an
operative connection (i.e., without structural detail) between
the scale and pump to compensate for weight variations, we are
convinced that the broad recitation of weight measurement by
Meier, in the overall context of the patent’s disclosure,
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