Appeal No. 1999-2107 Page 6
Application No. 08/926,299
puts on the boot and then pumps air into the bladder until the boot reaches the desired
level of tightness around the user’s foot (column 1, lines 9-12). The bladder is deflated
prior to removing the boot. Vaccari’s improvement is to position a pumping means on the
boot in such a location as to allow it to easily be operated by the wearer when the foot is in
the boot.
It is the examiner’s view that one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it
obvious to install a built-in pump on the Vermonet shoes in view of the teachings of
Vaccari, “to make the shoe easier to use by making the pump always easily available”
(Answer, page 5). However, we do not agree with this conclusion. Unlike the Vaccari ski
boot, in which the air chamber is inflated each time the boot is put on in order to provide
firm gripping of the foot and is deflated each time in order to allow the boot to be removed,
there is no such explicit teaching or apparent requirement with regard to the Vermonet
shoe. It appears to us that the Vermonet shoe initially is provided with a level of air
pressure in the chambers which cushions the sole of the foot each time it strikes the
walking surface, considering that such striking causes air to flow from the sole chamber to
the side chambers and seldom, if ever, would need to be adjusted. In any event, such
action clearly is not explicitly suggested in the disclosure. Moreover, there is nothing in the
disclosure that suggests the chambers must be deflated to put the shoe on or take it off,
which is the problem solved in the Vaccari invention.
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