Appeal No. 2000-1416
Application No. 09/073,847
present inventor) of June 16, 1999 (copy attached to brief)
and the respective viewpoints of appellant and the examiner.
As a consequence of our review, we make the determinations
which follow.
Initially, we recognize that appellant is addressing an
air bubble problem that occurs relative to a current grid3
drain used with a sink without an overflow channel. In
particular, when sufficient water flows on top of the drain an
air bubble will form inside the drain. The air bubble
effectively blocks the drain. Appellant’s grid drain has at
least 10 drain holes with the size of the drain holes being
large enough so that an air bubble will not form or will break
immediately upon formation. The drain holes are in a pattern
that is not uniform, with adjacent drain holes not being
3In the brief (page 6), is it indicated that the claimed
invention solves “a problem that was not recognized by the
prior art”. However, based upon declarant McRoberts’
statements (paragraph 4), it appears to us that the problem
was earlier observed in school lavatory sinks “around 1994-
1995.”
4
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