Appeal No. 98-1922 Page 19
Application No. 08/253,721
inexpensive, low friction material between a moving slide and
the ground. The examiner then determined (answer, p. 6) that
[i]t would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to form the Maeda low friction material out of a
high density polyethylene material, as taught by Ewell,
in order to provide an appropriate low friction surface.
The appellants state (brief, pp. 7-8) that they
do not understand how it would have been obvious to
select something out of the Ewell reference, which is
structure nowhere near or resembling that of the
Applicants and is unrelated, in order to combine it with
Maeda in such a way that it would anticipate or render
obvious the claim.
In applying the above-noted test for obviousness, we
reach the conclusion that it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made
to have made Maeda's bottom-surface component 5 from a low
friction material such as high density polyethylene, as
suggested by Ewell. In that regard, while Maeda teaches the
use of fluroresin as the low friction material for the bottom-
surface component 5, Ewell would have taught (see column 5,
lines 20-32) one skill in the art that high density
polyethylene material is an inexpensive, durable low friction
material. Accordingly, it is our view that it would have been
Page: Previous 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007