Appeal No. 1998-3353
Application 08/692,711
examiner for consideration of new grounds of rejection
discussed infra.
Appellants’ invention relates to a ratcheting driver
handle for a driver such as a screwdriver bit (70). The
driver handle mainly comprises a grippable body (11) and
a ratchet mechanism (40) conditioned by a selector member
(60) in such a manner that rotation of the body in a
given direction will either cause rotation of the driver
or will allow the body to ratchet with respect to the
driver. The ratchet mechanism comprises (a) a ratchet
gear (41) having a bore for receiving the shank of the
driver and (b) at least one spring biased pawl (50) which
is engageable with the ratchet gear.
According to the independent claim 21, an actuator
projection structure (65) on the selector member is
positioned and dimensioned for direct engagement with the
pawl to disengage the pawl from the ratchet gear upon
moving the selector member to a certain position. Claim
33, the only other independent claim on appeal, contains
a similar limitation, but is more limited than claim 21
in that it calls for first and second pawls and recites
that the actuator projection structure on the selector
2
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