Appeal No. 96-3737
Application No. 08/203,840
(e.g., see the definitions on pages 1016-1018 of Hawley's
Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 11th ed.; copy attached). The
examiner points to nothing which evinces that McNeal teaches
or would have suggested a rubber plug which is resilient and
compliant in the manner required by the appellants' claims.
On the other hand, McNeal's parent independent claim 6 ("a
snugly fitting thermoplastic plug") in combination with
dependent claim 9 ("said plug is a rubber plug") discloses a
thermoplastic rubber plug which militates against the
examiner's belief that patentee's rubber plug would be
resilient as claimed by the appellants.
These deficiencies of the McNeal reference are not cured
by either of the secondary references applied by the examiner
and
are fatal to each of the rejections advanced on this appeal.
For this reason alone, we cannot sustain any of the examiner's
above noted rejections.
The decision of the examiner is reversed.
REVERSED
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