Appeal No. 1999-0615
Application No. 08/786,974
because it is apparently sized to be mounted on a fire truck
and driven from the transmission thereof (col. 2, lines 64-
67).
Absent knowledge of appellant's invention, we see nothing
in Good, Farison and Stults which would have suggested their
combination in the manner urged by the examiner so as to
result in a backpack mounted fire suppressant foam generating
system. In our opinion, the examiner has used impermissible
hindsight derived from appellant's own teachings to
reconstruct the backpack liquid fire extinguisher of Good so
as to result in a fire suppressant foam generating system
miniaturized and consolidated to fit a backpack as required in
the claims before us on appeal.
Since we have determined that the teachings and
suggestions found in Good, Farison and Stults would not have
made the subject matter as a whole of claims 1 through 5, 10,
12 through 14 and 16 on appeal obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art at the time of appellant's invention, we must
refuse to sustain the examiner's rejection of those claims
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