Appeal No. 1998-2798
Application No. 08/645,144
on each of the four legs 18, 20, 22, 24, which legs, through a
disclosed mechanical arrangement, cause links 40 to pivot to
the position shown in Fig. 2, thereby expanding tube 12.
According to Vilasi’s disclosure, tips 44, when made of a
deformable material, may be readily shaped "to the
configuration and contour of the opening into which the same
are to be inserted so as to enable their ready and easy
insertion into and removal from such opening" (col. 5, lines
30 to 34). Also, they "may be further deformed and shaped by
the anesthetist to assure their smooth and easy entry into the
glottic passageway" (col. 5, lines 65 to 68).
It is well settled that
[o]bviousness cannot be established by combining the
teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed
invention, absent some teaching or suggestion
supporting the combination. Under section 103,
teachings of references can be combined only if
there is some suggestion or incentive to do so.
ACS Hospital Systems, Inc. v. Montefiore Hospital, 732 F.2d
1572, 1577, 221 USPQ 929, 933 (Fed. Cir. 1984). In the
present case, the apparatus disclosed by Adair includes an
endotracheal tube 12 in which the balloon 18 is expanded by
air pressure, rather than the tube being expanded by
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