Appeal No. 2000-0655 Page 7
Application No. 08/522,017
the tapered end of fluid handling member 10 to guide the latter into the bore of the housing.
Retainer 22 thus corresponds to the claimed “pilot member for guiding the fluid-handling
member into the bore of said housing.” Member 22 is locked into place in the housing by
“an external annular snap rib or ring 22d on the exterior periphery” (column 4, lines 42 and
43), which is “snappingly received in groove 16l” of the housing (column 4, line 56 and 57).
In other words, Rea teaches that the tubular “pilot member” is locked into place within the
tubular housing by pressing it into the end of the housing bore until ring 22d snaps into
groove 16l.
Berry teaches an alternative manner of locking two concentric tubes together, that
is, by providing radially extending fins on the outer periphery of the inner tubular member
which collapse to frictionally lock the members together when the inner tubular member is
pressed into the outer one. Berry points out that the techniques used in the prior art
required extensive machining operations to form the conduit entry with their attendant
increased costs, which are not required by his system (see column 1, line 59 to column 2,
line 38). From our perspective, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious
to modify Rea by replacing the snap ring locking feature with the friction locking feature
disclosed by Berry for Berry’s stated advantage of simplifying the construction of the two
members, as well as for the self-evident advantage of ease of installation of the inner
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