Appeal No. 1999-0636 Page 16
Application No. 08/828,375
positioned in an opening to detect movement of the barrier by
intruders seeking access to the opening. While it may be true
that a delay circuit in the alarm system would not have been
considered by one of ordinary skill in the art to be desirable
for all closures in all situations, we find the teaching of La
Mell sufficient to have at least suggested broadly the
provision on the Johnston closure of an alarm, even if not the
particular alarm system disclosed by La Mell, activated by
movement of the closure to warn of actual or attempted
unauthorized access to the opening sought to be closed by the
closure structure.
With regard to claim 9, which depends from claim 25, the
appellant further argues that Johnston "teaches away from the
material as being functional as a gate in that the mechanism
immediately retracts the material to protect it when the
closure has applied force acting on it" (brief, page 19). We
see nothing in this protective retractability feature which
precludes its function as a "gate" as claimed.7
A "gate" is "a movable framework or solid structure, esp. one that7
swings on hinges, controlling entrance or exit through an opening in a fence
or wall" (Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition (Simon &
Schuster, Inc. 1988)).
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