Appeal No. 98-1960
Application No. 08/673,921
The anticipation rejection
We reverse the examiner’s rejection of claim 1 under
35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Neale.
Claim 1 requires, inter alia, a "detent" disposed on a
shaft for engaging a bin and rotatable about the shaft with a
cover for retaining the cover in at least one detent position,
and with a spring biasing the detent axially against the bin.
As we see it, the patent to Neale fails to teach a
detent, in particular, as now claimed. 4
In the answer (pages 3 and 5), the examiner refers to
element 19 of Neale as a detent. However, the patentee
discloses a pair of hinge knuckles 19, not detents, attached
to the body 10. Similarly, the lid 11 of Neale includes a
pair of knuckles, and a bridge piece 25 likewise includes a
pair of knuckles 24. A hinge pin or rod 23 passes through the
4A detent is a device (as a catch, dog, or spring-
operated ball) for positioning and holding one mechanical part
in relation to another so that the device can be released by
force applied to one of the parts. Webster’s New Collegiate
Dictionary, G.&C. Merriam Company, Springfield, Massachusetts,
1979. The disclosed detent is consistent with this
definition.
7
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