Appeal No. 1998-3336 Page 8
Application No. 08/527,788
Although Bartley teaches an impeller, its impeller is not used
to measure a volume of inlet water per unit time. To the
contrary, the reference's impeller is a "pump impeller,"
col. 11, l. 66, which is used to pump fluid through Bartley's
piping system. See col. 11, l. 63, - col. 12, l. 21. Relying
on Frew "to merely teach that displaying the amount of gas and
water level is well known in the art," (Examiner's Answer at
22), the examiner fails to allege, let alone show, that the
addition of the reference cures the deficiency in the
combination of Otten and Bartley.
Because Bartley's impeller is used to pump fluid through
the reference's piping system, we are not persuaded that
teachings from the applied prior art would appear to have
suggested the claimed limitations of "a measuring means for
providing measurements of the inlet pipe volume of water per
unit time, said measuring means comprising a rotatable
impeller" or "a measuring means for providing measurements of
volume of inlet water per unit time connected to said inlet
water supply, said measuring means including a rotatable
impeller ...." The examiner fails to establish a prima facie
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