Appeal No. 97-4247
Application No. 08/190,618
along said inclined surface into gripping engagement
with the surface of the elongate member, the movable
elements being free to move axially within the
support apertures and relative to each other a
sufficient amount such that the respective movable
elements may adopt differing radial and axial
positions when gripping the elongate member to
accommodate such ovality.
It is the examiner’s position that both Dillon and Atlas
disclose the basic structure required by claims 15 and 19,
except for the elongated apertures, but that it would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to elongate
the apertures in view of the teachings of Price. The
appellant disagrees, on the basis that there would have been
no suggestion to do so. We agree with the appellant, our
reasoning being as follows.
From our perspective, both Dillon and Atlas disclose
exactly the type of gripping device over which the appellant
believes his invention to be an improvement. While the theory
of operation and the structures themselves have much in common
with the claimed invention, neither of these references
recognizes the problem solved by the appellant, nor do they
disclose structure which inherently would solve the problem.
In both, the apertures through which the locking balls extend
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