Appeal No. 1999-0946
Application No. 08/693,641
glass bottle that has spaced inner and outer walls with a gap therebetween for receiving a
ticket. The examiner maintains that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art at the time of the invention to make the neck of Orimoto's plastic preform with inner
and outer walls and a gap therebetween as taught by Hall so that the bottle neck may hold
a ticket.
Like appellant (brief, pages 5 through 10), we agree that there is no teaching,
suggestion or motivation found in either of the applied references to make such a
modification in the plastic preform of Orimoto. While it would be seemingly possible to
add such a channel or gap to the neck of Orimoto's container and preserve its intended
function, there is no suggestion in either reference to do so. Hall placed the channel in the
neck of the reusable glass bottle so that a milkman would not have to retrieve the ticket
from the bottom of the container where it might otherwise become stuck leading to the
probability that the bottle would be broken in attempts to retrieve the ticket. Orimoto's
container, on the other hand, is formed from a blow moldable plastic which is tolerant of
high temperatures, thereby resisting distortion of the threads in the neck area. It is well-
known that plastic containers were developed for their convenient disposability and/or
recycling, as well as for the safety aspect that they would not break if mishandled. Clearly,
the problem confronted by Hall of avoiding breakage of a reusable glass milk container is
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