Appeal No. 1999-1483 Page 5
Application No. 08/732,887
between the feet of the assemblies at the points at which they contact the ground, but of the
angles between the axes along which the three assemblies are displaced during their
movement, which must be “along radial axes positioned 120 degrees from one another.”
There is no explanation in Burrows that specifies the relationship between the three
assemblies in a manner that can directly be related to the language of claim 1, so we are
left to analyzing the drawings to determine this. In the Burrows arrangement, the leg
assemblies are attached together at a mid-point and thus displace outwardly in a scissor-
like movement with both essentially in the same plane, which would place the axes along
which they move at 180 degrees to each other. The step assembly moves outwardly along
a radial axis that is at 90 degrees to the plane within which the leg assemblies move with
respect to one another. While it is possible to position the three assemblies of the
Burrows ladder so that the feet touch the ground at points equidistant from one another, it
is clear to us that the angular relationship of the axes of movement of these assemblies in
accomplishing this is not 120 degrees, as required by claim 1. Consideration of the
teachings of High, which was cited for its teaching of providing a ladder with adjustable
legs, does not cure this deficiency.
This being the case, the combined teachings of the two applied references fail to
establish a prima facie case of obviousness with regard to the subject matter recited in
claim 1. We therefore will not sustain the rejection of claim 1 or, it follows, of claims 2-4,
6, 9 and 10, which depend therefrom and stand rejected on the same grounds.
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