Appeal No. 97-4206
Application 08/662,263
and flange need to be wide enough to span
the several blades or tool bits, and thin
enough to be flexible without too much
force, since the length of the spring is
limited by its formation as a part of the
back of the channel-shaped handle.
Formation of such a spring too long would
weaken the handle.
* * *
Rohrer '143 also discloses a single-
bladed tool. There is no suggestion to use
its construction, either, in a multi-bladed
tool. While Rohrer '143 discloses a blade-
locking member 13 carried on a spring, and
a cam lever 14 useful for unlatching the
single blade from its latched-open
position, the spring is of a narrow, deep
configuration. Rohrer does not suggest how
such a blade locking member could be
utilized for a multi-bladed tool of the
type shown in FIG. 3 of the present
application, where a spring and locking
member such as shown by Rohrer, if made
wide enough to engage several blades, would
be too stiff for practicality. [Pages 6
and 7.]
Thereafter, the appellants conclude that the examiner has used
a hindsight reconstruction of the references in arriving at a
conclusion of obviousness.
6
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