Appeal No. 1998-3309 6
Application No. 08/618,306
generate pressure within the container” includes a spring 35
which mounts the applicator head on the container for movement
into and out of the container. In operation, the container is
first inverted wetting the inner surface 28 of the applicator
head and then, by capillary action, liquid flows through the
pores of the applicator head. When the head is applied to the
skin, the pressure on the head pushes the head into the
container increasing the pressure in the container, forcing
liquid out through the pores of the head and supplementing the
capillary flow. The capillary pressure compensation valve 45
allows air to enter the container to prevent a vacuum from
building up within the container when pressure on the head is
released and the head moves out of the container. See col. 4,
l. 60 et seq.
In the examiner’s statement of the grounds of the
rejections, the examiner described Berghahn as disclosing the
recited pore size (although pore size is not recited in claim
15) and determined that it would have been obvious to substitute
“such a material [presumably the applicator element 4 of
Berghahn] with the given pore size.” See answer, p. 3. The
examiner identified the motivation for this substitution as “the
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