Appeal No. 98-1252 Page 15
Application No. 08/642,184
It is the examiner's position that it would have been
obvious to provide the cap on the toothpaste container of Miles
with a dental floss dispenser in view of the teachings of
Grussmark. The appellant disagrees, contending that Grussmark
does not teach (1) that the top wall of the dental floss
dispenser should be connected to the second part of a two-part
cap of a toothpaste container and (2) a bottom wall that is
"sized and formed" to allow the combination container and
dispenser to stand on a planar surface.
We do not agree with the appellant's contentions. The cap
on the toothpaste container of Miles is of the two-part type
wherein a second part 14 is pivotally mounted with respect to a
first part 13, and the second part 14 of the cap of Miles has a
planar surface. Grussmark teaches a combination toothpaste
container and dental floss dispenser wherein the outermost
surface of Grussmark's cap 16 is provided with a recess or
socket (defined by peripheral wall 18) for receiving the top
wall 20 of dental floss dispenser 22 and the bottom wall of
this dispenser has a planar surface 25 of significant extent
(see Figs. 2 and 3). We share the examiner's view that one of
ordinary skill in this art would have found it obvious to mount
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