Appeal No. 2000-1715 Page 3
Application No. 08/925,053
As manifested in claim 13, the appellants’ invention is directed to a syringe comprising
a bellows having a longitudinal axis and including a plurality of bellows rings each including
first and second frusto-conical walls that converge at an apex. The invention requires, inter
alia, that the syringe have a forward portion and a rearward portion and that the diameters
of the bellows rings increase successively from the rearward portion to the forward portion.
According to the final paragraph of the claim this, and the other required features, “cause
the bellows rings to collapse by inversion upon collapsing force being applied to said
bellows rings.”
It is the examiner’s view, with respect to claim 13, that all of the required subject matter
is disclosed by Drewe, except for the increasing diameter of the bellows rings from the
rearward portion to the forward portion of the syringe and the included angle of the first
bellows ring being greater than that of the second. It is the examiner’s position, however,
that modifying Drewe by orienting the bellows rings such that they increase in diameter
from the rear to the front, which also would meet the terms of the claim regarding the
included angles, constitutes a mere reversal of parts which would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the art. He further points out that such a bellows orientation is taught
by Sneider (Answer, page 4). The appellants take issue with this conclusion.
The rejection is under 35 U.S.C. § 103. The test for obviousness is what the combined
teachings of the prior art would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art. See, for
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