Appeal No. 1998-1783 Page 5
Application No. 08/566,681
before him to make the proposed combination or other
modification. See In re Lintner, 9 F.2d 1013, 1016, 173 USPQ
560, 562 (CCPA 1972). Furthermore, the conclusion that the
claimed subject matter is prima facie obvious must be
supported by evidence, as shown by some objective teaching in
the prior art or by knowledge generally available to one of
ordinary skill in the art that would have led that individual
to combine the relevant teachings of the references to arrive
at the claimed invention. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071,
1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988).
With this as background, we analyze the prior art applied
by the examiner in the rejection of the claims on appeal.
Reed discloses a method and device for properly mixing
stabilizing chemicals into earthen formations. As shown in
Figure 4, a helical blade of one or more convolutions is
attached to a hollow torque tube and rotated down into the
soil. As the device is rotated through the soil to be
stabilized, chemicals are pumped down the torque tube, out the
device, and then mixed into a soil column by the rotating
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