Appeal No. 97-1471
Application 08/229,951
for a decision on the record as to whether or not a rejection of one or more of the claims on appeal in
this case would be appropriate based on the Fulwell reference alone, wherein the device seen in Figure
1 of Fulwell appears, for example, to be fully responsive to the selectively orientable liquid receivable
device set forth in appellant’s claim 1 on appeal, particularly should the device of Fulwell Figure 1 be
provided with a dilute liquid cleaning agent of a lesser volume than the container (a) therein (e.g., less
than half the volume of the container) so that in a generally horizontal orientation the liquid cleaning
agent would be below the level of the supply end of the feed tube (f), while in a more upright position
the level of the liquid cleaning agent would be above the supply end of the feed tube. In this regard, we
note that while Fulwell describes the brush device therein as a shaving brush which carries a liquid soap
or the like therein, it is nonetheless fully capable of use as a cleaning device for dirty food preparation
and serving ware, and more specifically appears to be fully capable of the particular use set forth in
appellant’s claims on appeal. With reference to claim 15 on appeal, we note that the device of Fulwell
Figure 1 has a feed tube assembly (e, f, g) that appears to be fully responsive to that set forth in the
claim. As for those claims which recite a bent feed tube (e.g., claims 5, 8, 11 and 16 on appeal), we
urge the examiner to consider the combined teachings of Fulwell and Smith to determine if it would
have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Fulwell Figure 1 with a
curved or bent feed tube as seen in Smith so as to ensure that
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