Appeal No. 2000-0030
Application No. 08/723,451
and a drip pan or container (14) located beneath the waste
collection tank. The examiner notes (answer, page 3) that
Been shows an outlet at (34) which includes a cap (col. 2,
line 50). In the examiner’s view, Been lacks a second valved
outlet. The examiner urges that it would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the collection tank art to provide a
tank with any number of outlets desired and points to the
collection tank in the gray water collection system of Kaump,
which has a valved outlet in line (38) and a valved outlet at
(44) connected to a sewer line (60), as being exemplary. From
these teachings the examiner concludes (answer, page 4) that
since both references teach collection tanks downstream of a
sink it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to employ the multiple valved outlets of Kaump in the
similar environment of Been.
Appellants argue, and we strongly agree, that given the
disparate nature of the waste solvent collection receptacle
seen in Been and the gray water collection system disclosed in
Kaump, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found no
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