Appeal No. 98-1532
Application No. 08/438,533
OPINION
According to the appellant’s specification, a problem in
typical home lawn sprinkler installations is that the poppet
sprinkler heads, which move from a retracted to an extended
position upon the application of water pressure, are easily
damaged by being stepped upon or contacted by mowers or other
rolling equipment. The objective of the appellant’s invention
is to provide an effective cover for such sprinkler heads that
is simple in design, inexpensive to produce, and easy to
install. As manifested in claim 1, the sole independent
claim, the appellant’s inventive cover comprises a single
molded piece forming a circular disk having a dome shaped
upper surface and a flat bottom surface. The disk has a
central aperture of “predetermined” diameter which is
sufficient to allow the operating portion of the sprinkler
head to “freely penetrate” the aperture when operating. At
least three conically shaped posts are attached to the bottom
surface of the disk to anchor the device to the ground.
Claims 3 and 4 add to claim 1 details of the posts.
The examiner has rejected all of the claims as being
unpatentable over Leite in view of Block. We have evaluated
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