Appeal No. 98-1042
Application 08/449,069
the push-button rather than to the side of the push-
button. Indeed, the modification would frustrate
the objective of the British patent, which is to
spray a liquid. Positioning the outlet at the
outermost end of the push-button would prevent
spraying from taking place because the user's finger
would get in the way [brief, page 6].
Independent claim 5 recites a writing instrument having a
sanitary moistener comprising, inter alia, "an elongated,
hollow body having first and second ends," a "pump-actuating
means . . . projecting axially beyond the second end of the
body," the actuating means "being manually depressible, toward
the first end of the hollow body" and having "a finger-
engageable outermost end," "means for conducting liquid to
said outermost end," and "means for allowing moistening liquid
to flow through said conducting means to the user's finger
while the user's finger is in engagement with the outermost
end of the actuating means and depressing said actuating
means."
The appellant's position that the British reference does
not meet these limitations, particularly those relating to the
means for conducting liquid to the outermost end of the
actuating means, is well taken. The push button 26 and
pathway 30 in the British device correspond, respectively, to
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