Ex parte UDAGAWA - Page 6




          Appeal No. 2000-0203                                                        
          Application No. 08/924,099                                                  

          invention was made “to add the auxiliary [elastomeric] sealing              
          member as disclosed by Jelinek into the space of the gasket                 
          [between the flange periphery 38 and the pressure regulation                
          plate 32] as disclosed by Udagawa et al. for better sealing”                
          (final rejection, page 3).                                                  
               This reference combination is reasonable on its face.                  
          Jelinek’s teaching that sealing is facilitated by the use of                
          elastomeric sealing members filling and projecting upwardly                 
          from recesses in a rigid base plate (see, for example, column               
          2, lines 37 through 40) would have provided the artisan with                
          ample suggestion or motivation to add such an elastomeric                   
          sealing member to Udagawa’s gasket in the recess or space                   
          between the periphery 38 of flange 35 and the pressure                      
          regulation plate 32, thereby arriving at the subject matter                 
          recited in claim 1.  For the most part, the appellant’s                     
          contention that the rejection is unsound rests on the                       
          individual deficiencies of Udagawa and Jelinek with respect to              
          the claimed invention.  Non-obviousness cannot be established,              
          however, by attacking references individually where the                     
          rejection is based upon the teachings of a                                  



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