Appeal No. 1999-2211 Page 6
Application No. 08/620,427
"retaining the tubing of the stethoscope." Collins is
directed to a receptacle for a stethoscope chest piece, and
states (col. 1, lines 18-22) that "[i]t is an object of this
invention therefore to provide a receptacle to receive and to
hold the chest piece of a stethoscope to prevent the same from
dangling and from swinging while the binaurals are secured to
the neck of the user" and (col. 2, lines 49 and 50) that the
stethoscope binaurals 53 are "in a holding position about the
neck of the operator A." From the disclosure of Collins that
the binaurals are secured in a holding position from the neck
of the user, we find that the neck of the user retains the
stethoscope ear pieces to the user. We further find that the
ear pieces of the stethoscope are releasably retained because
the ear pieces (claim 7) are capable of being released from
the user's neck by pulling the ear pieces apart with the
user's hands. The tubing (claim 8) is not retained by the
neck of the user, but rather hangs loose. However, even
assuming arguendo that the tubing of the stethoscope is
broadly considered to be retained by the neck of the user as
advanced by the examiner (answer, pages 2 and 3) we find that
the neck of the user is not an equivalent structure to the
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