Appeal No. 2001-0730 Page 6
Application No. 09/221,543
USPQ2d 1635, 1637 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Gordon, 733 F.2d
900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir. 1984).
Claim 12, the only independent claim on appeal, reads as
follows:
A closet bolt assembly for securing a toilet bowl
flange to a fixed ring below the toilet bowl, said ring
having a slot therein and said toilet bowl flange having
a hole extending therethrough, said closet bolt assembly
comprising:
a nut; and
a closet bolt having a cylindrical shaft with
opposed first and second ends, a planar flange integrally
connected to the second end of said cylindrical shaft and
disposed generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis
thereof for engaging the fixed ring, with the outer
surface of said cylindrical shaft being threaded from
said first end to a point intermediate the length thereof
a sufficient distance for engaging said nut to said
closet bolt to secure said toilet bowl flange to said
ring, said cylindrical shaft having a hollow passage
extending from said first end toward said second end
thereof, said hollow passage being of non-circular cross-
section whereby when an elongated tool of corresponding
cross-section to said hollow passage is disposed within
said hollow passage of the cylindrical shaft, the closet
bolt may be restrained from rotation to enable said nut
to be threadedly tightened on and threadedly screwed off
of said cylindrical shaft.
In the rejection before us in this appeal (answer, pp. 4-
5), the examiner appears to have ascertained that the Admitted
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007