Appeal No. 1999-0400
Application No. 08/316,938
the background discussion at column 1, lines 15 through 35)
functions in combination with a pressure roller and rotating
blades to granulate pulverulent materials.
The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a
secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the
structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed
invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the
references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of
the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill
in the art. In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881
(CCPA 1981).
Edwards discloses the use of a sieve to form powder
agglomerates, but does not specify its shape. Edmonds and
Bremer establish that sieves for processing material particles
commonly have a conical shape. In this light, and
notwithstanding the appellants’ arguments to the contrary, the
combined teachings of Edwards, Edmonds and Bremer would have
suggested the implementation of Edwards’ sieve-agglomeration
step via a commonplace conical sieve of the sort disclosed by
Edmonds and Bremer. Although Szczesny also discloses a
“conical” sieve, the manner in which it functions is not
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