Appeal No. 98-3303
Application 08/568,211
combination of reference teachings. In our opinion, one
having ordinary skill in the art simply would not have been
motivated to make the proposed combination since the
modification would have added a valve which defeats the
patentee’s expressly stated intention of returning poisonous
material within the hose to the tank. Since we cannot support
the examiner’s rationale, the rejection of claim 21 must be
reversed.
REMAND
We remand the application to the examiner to assess the
patentability of appellants’ claimed subject matter, in
particular the content of claim 21 on appeal, taking into
account the basic and known manually-actuated plunger type
spray pumps of record in the application viewed in light of
the prior art showing by Collins, in the manually-actuated
spray pump art, of a known plunger arrangement wherein there
is no frictional contact between an outer surface of the
plunger and an interior surface of a pump barrel.
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