Appeal No. 1996-3918
Application No. 08/232,351
a means of bolting the goal (rim) directly to the
supporting frame through the backboard thus
providing a stronger unit and minimizing the
breaking of the goal from the board by players
hanging on the rim. [Column 1, lines 63-68.]
Especially in view of this statement by White, one of
ordinary skill in this art would have found it obvious to
provide the center bracket 58,60,62 of Cramblett with
apertures for the purpose of receiving fasteners in order to
connect the rim through the backboard directly to the center
bracket and thus achieve White's expressly stated advantages
of providing a stronger unit and minimizing the breaking of
the goal from the board by players hanging on the rim.
With respect to claims 13 and 21 the appellant argues
that the prior art does not show a pair of guides connected
adjacent an edge of the support brackets. We must point out,
however, that Cramblett in Fig. 1 clearly depicts the guides
48,50 as being adjacent the front edge of brackets 24,26.
With respect to claims 5, 12 and 21 it is also the
appellant's contention that the prior art does not show the
center bracket being connected directly to, and extending
between, a pair of slides. This contention is also not
persuasive since the center bracket 58,60,62, of Cramblett
6
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007