Appeal No. 2001-0533
Application No. 09/322,043
contrary to the teachings of Roark, in that this would not
result in the smooth, continuous cylindrical gripping surface
achieved by the specially adapted containers of Roark. The
use of a bottle having a collar extending radially from the
neck and being of a diameter greater than the neck portions
adjacent thereto would inherently result in a step-down from
the greater diameter to the smaller neck diameter over the
gripping portion of the dumbbell and, thus, would not have
been obvious to one having skill in the art.
As for the examiner's alternative position, the Smith
assembly requires a passage through the adapter closure to
permit passage of contents therethrough from one container to
the other. In that the closure of Roark comprises a divider
wall 14 which blocks communication between the bore portions
10, 12 of the closure, the teachings of Smith and Roark
provide no suggestion to use the closure of Roark with the
containers of Smith in the assembly of Smith.
In light of the above, we conclude that the teachings of
Roark and Smith are insufficient to establish a prima facie
case of obviousness of the subject matter of claim 1 or of
claims 5 and 6 which depend therefrom. Having reviewed the
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