Appeal No. 1999-0067
Application 08/533,305
result in replacing the conventional screw threads of coupling
nut 24 with a bayonet arrangement having slots and helical
grooves in the coupling nut and projections on the outer
surface of male member 1, and not the claimed structure, which
would be formulated only if the coupling nut were discarded
and slots and helical grooves were placed on the inside walls
of recess 32 of the female member. Considering that this
would necessitate a substantial reconstruction of the
structure of the Espy coupling and would result in an entirely
different manner of operation, and that Rudolph does not teach
using the bayonet joint option when a seal must be axially
compressed during coupling, it is our opinion that suggestion
for such a modification is found only in the luxury of the
hindsight accorded one who first viewed the
appellant’s disclosure. As stated by our reviewing court in
In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1266, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1784 (Fed.
Cir. 1992),
[i]t is impermissible to use the claimed invention
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