Appeal No. 97-3030
Application No. 08/254,181
to practice the Pons Pons invention would have looked to the
heating arts in order to provide for the heating of the
fragrance bar, as suggested by Pons Pons. The porcelain
enamel metal substrate of Hedden would have provided for such
a heating element. 35 U.S.C. § 103 does not require that
Hedden expressly indicate that the heating panels therein are
to be used for heating fragrance bars. The skilled artisan is
presumed to know something about his/her art apart from that
explicitly disclosed by a reference. We disagree with
appellants that any "considerable modification" of Pons Pons
would be necessary to incorporate therein the porcelain enamel
metal substrate of Hedden and we disagree with appellants that
any impermissible hindsight would have been required to reach
the instant claimed subject matter with regard to claim 1.
With regard to claim 11, appellants argue (reply brief-
page 5) that Hedden "discloses absolutely nothing" about a
fragrance block being immediately adjacent to the porcelain
enamel metal substrate heater. This argument ignores the
combination of Hedden with Pons Pons and is not persuasive
since Pons Pons provides the teaching of placing a heating
element immediately adjacent to the fragrance block.
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