Appeal No. 97-2720 Page 15
Application No. 08/354,387
In applying the above-noted test for obviousness, we
reach the conclusion that it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made
to have mounted the separator 13 of DuBois on a plate to cover
the top of the stack of sheets in the paper storage well as
suggested by Scott's mounting of his feeding roller on the
front frame.
The argument advanced by the appellants (brief, p. 7)
does not convince us that the subject matter of claim 5
patentably distinguishes over the applied prior art.
First, the appellants argue that Scott is unrelated to
the art area of the present invention. We do not agree. The
test for non-analogous art is first whether the art is within
the field of the inventor's endeavor and, if not, whether it
is reasonably pertinent to the problem with which the inventor
was involved. In re Wood, 599 F.2d 1032, 1036, 202 USPQ 171,
174 (CCPA 1979). In the present instance, we are informed by
the appellants' originally filed specification (p. 1) that
this invention relates generally to a sheet feeder. Scott
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