Appeal No. 1996-3198 Page 5
Application No. 08/371,642
claim 1 (brief, page 7 and specification, page 4) except for
the recited "frictional elastomeric member on the exterior of
the handle member...." According to the examiner, Araujo
discloses an elastomeric cover for a hand-held applicator as a
grip (answer, page 4), and it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art to modify the hand-held labeler of
Hamisch to include such a cover on the handle of the labeler
for providing a better grip thereto. We note that appellant
does not specifically dispute the examiner's holding (implicit
in the stated rejection) that the claimed foam handle grip or
sleeve of Araujo (column 4, lines 53 and 54 and column 5, lines
21-25) corresponds to the claimed frictional elastomeric
member. On this record, it is our view that a skilled artisan
would have been imbued with a reasonable expectation of success
in improving the gripping surface of the handle of Hamisch's
labeler by adding a foam sleeve cover thereto which corresponds
to the claimed elastomeric cover as taught by Araujo.
Moreover, on this record, we are of the opinion that it would
have been obvious from the combined teachings of Hamisch and
Araujo to select a foam sleeve cover material with a desired
hardness value, such as that recited in claims 8 or 9, to
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