Appeal No. 2000-1669 Page 8
Application No. 08/433,328
It is appellants' position that "[e]verything said in the
three references is consistent with conventional wisdom of
using plastic. Nothing in the cited references suggests a
spacer made of continuous solid metal, as claimed" (brief,
page 9).
It is our opinion that the combination of Blower,
Kraemer, and Calvert would have been suggestive of the subject
matter of appellants' claims 16 and 17. Kraemer's tube (1)
satisfies all of the limitations of appellants' claims 16 and
17 except for the limitations that the spacer is a continuous
solid metal body (claim 16) and that the body is composed of
stainless steel (claim 17). Kraemer's oblong (i.e. elongated)
tube (1) (Fig. 1) has a chamber (2) with a total volume of 200
to 500 ml, and preferably from 250 to 350 ml (column 2, line
66), and receives a medicament from a metered dose inhaler
(MDI).
Calvert teaches that the air passage surfaces of an
inhaler should have anti-static properties (column 5, lines
18-23), suggests using low electrostatic attraction material
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