Appeal No. 97-4247
Application No. 08/190,618
the purpose of allowing the balls to be moved axially by the
shoulder (24) of the advancing male member into a location
where they can be radially displaced into a recess (13), to
allow the shoulder to pass. Thereafter, the balls move
radially inwardly to seat in the annular groove (2) in the
male member, to lock it in place. When gripping the male
members, the balls cannot adopt differing radial and axial
positions with respect to one another; they all are seated in
the groove in identical radial and axial positions.
The mere fact that the prior art structure could be
modified does not make such a modification obvious unless the
prior art suggests the desirability of doing so. See In re
Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir.
1984). We fail to perceive any teaching, suggestion or
incentive in the applied references which would have led one
of ordinary skill in the art to modify the devices of Dillon
or Atlas by replacing the round apertures with ones shaped to
allow both radial and axial movement. In our opinion, the
only suggestion for making such a modification is found in the
luxury of first viewing the appellant’s disclosure. This, of
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