Appeal No. 1999-2094 Page 7 Application No. 08/517,198 that the apparatus for carrying a bicycle on a vehicle roof includes means for urging the holder to the transport position from the loading and unloading position, the urging means including at least one resilient means attached between the holder and the carrier device, when the holder is in the loading and unloading position, the resilient means acting to pivot the holder in a clockwise direction to urge the holder to be retained in the loading and unloading position. With regard to this difference, the examiner determined (answer, p. 3) that "it would have been obvious to provide the carrier of Mottino with resilient means as shown by Vanzant and Will for allowing easier movement of the carrier." While we agree with the examiner that it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the carrier of Mottino by providing it with resilient means as shown by Vanzant and Will, this modification of Mottino does not arrive at the claimed invention. In this regard, we agree with the appellant (brief, pp. 11) that the resilient/urging means of Vanzant (i.e., gas cylinder 52) and the resilient/urging meansPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007