Appeal No. 2000-1625
Application No. 08/942,618
and is held therein by "a suitable adhesive, such as glue"
(col. 2, lines 11 to 14). The examiner takes the position
that (answer, page 5):
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art at the time the invention was made to use an
adhesive to adhere the knob to the mounting member to more
securely or permanently connect the two members. It would
also have been obvious to use the adhesive only at the
overlapping region because the overlapping region is where
the two members contact each other.
In response to appellants' argument that there would be no
need for an adhesive in the Verse structure in view of the
crimping (clamping) of the cup (member b) on the knob, and
that the structure with which Bowman teaches the use of an
adhesive does not remotely resemble that of Verse (brief, page
7), the examiner states (answer pages 9 and 10):
[A]dhesives allow simple permanent attachment where the
crimped attachment requires an additional tool and
weakens the attachment area. Applicant [sic: Applicants]
further argues [sic: argue] the location of the adhesive
would not be obvious. As disclosed by Bowman and well
known, adhesive is placed at the contact area between the
objects to be adhered. Such placement of adhesive would
result in placement of adhesive adjacent the free end
of the knob at the overlapping region as claimed.
We will not sustain this rejection, because we do not
consider that Bowman would have taught or suggested to one of
ordinary skill in the art the use of adhesive to attach the
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