Appeal No. 97-3295
Application No. 08/424,759
The primary objective of the appellant’s invention is to
provide a platform for supporting a sunbather’s body in
positions that orient the side surfaces of the body toward the
sun’s rays (Brief, page 2). As manifested in all of the
independent claims, the structure for accomplishing this
objective comprises, inter alia, a body support surface which
is inclined to the generally planar surface upon which it is
intended to rest, and has contours conforming to the contours
of the body of the sunbather. Central to our decision not to
sustain the rejections is our belief that one of ordinary
skill in the art would have understood from the specification
that the “contours” are the undulations along the body support
surface which accommodate various portions of the user’s body
(see Figures 1, 2 and 7), while “inclined” should be
interpreted as meaning that the entire body support surface is
sloped with regard to the surface upon which the elongate
structure of which it is a part rests (see Figures 1, 2 and
5).
Independent claim 20 stands rejected on the basis of
Groenewald in view of De Fries. From our perspective,
Groenewald is the type of prior art device over which the
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