Appeal No. 1998-0236
Application No. 08/472,536
column 3, lines 30-57), the vertically spaced slots are
located in a base wall of a vertical recess 16 in the support
post, and the tabs 23b are wedged against inclined side
surfaces 19a and 19b of the vertical recess. According to
Bridge’s specification (see column 1, lines 44-50 and column
3, lines 53-57), the resulting increase in the contact area
between the tabs and the post has the advantage of reducing
the stress forces (referred to as contact pressure in Bridge’s
specification) tending to cause deformation of the tabs due to
downwardly applied loads. Appellant even concedes on page 26
of the brief that Bridge’s construction reduces the stress
forces on the tabs or tongue elements as they are called in
Bridge’s specification. Such a teaching would have been ample
motivation for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify
Bianco’s posts 12 and frame members 38 in a corresponding
manner to achieve the foregoing advantage.
With regard to appellant’s argument in the second full
paragraph on page 26 of the brief, the fact that Bianco’s
frame or bracket members would require modification to achieve
the advantages disclosed in the Bridge patent is of no moment
because claim 2 does not require a bracket construction that
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