Appeal No. 2000-1576
Application 09/169,179
are struck from the metal material of the clip body 11,
there will be through holes left in the clip body 11
under the liner holding members 52, 54, 56 and 90 when
they are formed from the material of the body 11.
Accordingly, when the plastic liner 20 is fed into the
curved spring supporting portion 16 of the body 11 as by
sliding or dropping it into place, the liner 20 will be
disposed over these through holes. Thus, folding the
holding members 52, 54, 56, or 90 down onto the liner 20
so as to clamp the liner in place will generally cause
some sinking of the liner 20 into the through openings
associated with respective ones of the folded over or
clamped holding members so as to enhance the ability of
the members to keep the liner 20 fixed and clamped
against the spring supporting portion 16 without sliding
thereof during use with flexing of the spring.
Independent claim 1 is representative of the subject
matter on appeal and a copy of that claim, as reproduced from
Appendix A of appellant’s brief, is attached to this decision.
The references relied upon by the examiner in rejecting
the appealed claims are:
Bechtoldt et al. (Bechtoldt) 5,542,775 Aug.
6, 1996
Ayres et al. (Ayres) 5,833,064 Nov. 10,
1998
Claim 1 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being
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