Appeal No. 1999-1523 Page 9
Application No. 08/839,065
35 U.S.C. § 103.
Claim 4 reads as follows: "The connector of claim 1,
wherein said connector is formed as a single-piece from a
casted piece of metal."
The examiner found (answer, p. 5) that "Rensch sets forth
the invention except for the connector, including the load
bearing members, being formed integrally as a single-piece."
Thereafter, the examiner took the position that
case law dictates that forming several pieces integrally
as a single-piece is not considered to be patentable
subject matter, and that it would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the
configuration of Rensch to be formed as an integral
single-piece, in order to increase the rigidity of the
assembly, and to reduce the number of steps required to
produce the structure.
The appellants argue (brief, pp. 7-8, and reply brief,
pp. 2-3) that Rensch requires "that the junction elements 2
are separate pieces from the girders 3" and that there is no
suggestion or incentive to make Rensch's lattice structure
into a single piece. Lastly, the appellant concludes that the
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