Appeal No. 98-1233
Application No. 08/612,045
We REVERSE and, pursuant to our authority under the
provisions of 37 CFR § 1.196(b), we will enter new rejections
of claims 1-3 and 5-7.
The appellant's invention pertains to a plaster guard for
a concealed sanitary valve which can be controlled by a valve
element. Independent claim 1 is further illustrative of the
appealed subject matter and copy thereof may be found in the
appendix to the brief.
The references relied on by the examiner are:
Carlson 942,541 Dec. 7, 1909
Bergmann 5,497,584 Mar. 12, 1996
Claims 1-9 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
being unpatentable over Bergmann in view of Carlson.
According to the examiner:
Bergmann discloses the claimed "plaster guard"
invention except for the recitation of a coacting
tool. Carlson teaches that it is known to provide a
"reversible" valve "tool" including a lower "guard"
portion 23 and a reversible "tool" portion 24 as set
forth at column 2, lines 62+. It would have been
obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at
the time the invention was made to modify the
"plaster guard" of Bergmann to include a coacting
tool portion, as taught by Carlson in order to
provide means to test actuation of the valve
following completion of plastering the wall.
[Answer, page 3.]
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