Appeal No. 1998-0402
Application No. 08/490,046
surface of the stepped recess . . . .
For this teaching, the examiner looks to Kunnecke, taking the
position that an indicator means located in a stepped recess
is taught by Kunnecke, and it would have been obvious to add
such a feature to the Sturm structure “for the purpose of
preventing an overflow of thermoplastic material and limiting
the extension of the indicator beyond the sleeve” (Answer,
page 4).
The thermoplastic pipe connector sleeve disclosed by
Kunnecke is equipped with a recess (14) that has a narrowed
opening (19) at its open end. However, the Kunnecke indicator
is much different in structure and operation from that of
Sturm. It comprises a piston (17) located inwardly in the
recess and a stem (18) mounted on the piston. The piston is
larger than the opening at the top of the recess, and the stem
is small enough to
be movable through it; thus, while the stem advances radially
outward when the piston moves under the pressure of the heated
thermoplastic material, the piston is precluded from exiting
the recess. The piston and stem are not integral with the
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