Appeal No. 97-4247
Application No. 08/190,618
clearly are circular, and thus, while they permit radial
movement of the balls with respect to the support in which
they are mounted, they do not permit the axial movement
required by the appellant’s two independent claims. This is
acknowledged by the examiner (Answer, page 3).
Price discloses a pipe coupling in which a male element
(Figure 2) is locked onto a female element (Figure 1) into
which it is received. The male element is provided with an
annular groove (2) into which are received a plurality of
locking balls (3) carried by the female element. The balls
extend into the receiving cavity through a plurality of
elongated apertures (15). However, the Price coupling is a
different type than that of Dillon or Atlas, it operates in a
different manner, and the purpose of the elongations in the
apertures is far afield from that of the appellant’s
invention. Initially, it must be recognized that the Price
coupling attaches two ends of a pipe, each of which is
provided with a fixture. It does not and cannot receive an
elongate member of the type with which the two primary
references, and the appellant’s invention, are intended to
operate. The elongated apertures disclosed by Price are for
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