Appeal No. 2001-0861 Page 7
Application No. 08/741,964
Mecca’s strap to the tow ring of a vehicle, as taught by Harte, “since this is a common
attachment point found on a large number of vehicles” (Answer, page 4).
The appellants argue that the eye of the shear pin is not a snow plow ring
connector because it does not releasably attach the blade to the vehicle. We do not
agree, for the strap is attached on one end to the vehicle and on the other end to the
shear pin eye, which supports the snow blade mounting frame. There is no
requirement in claim 2 that the snow plow ring connector be attached directly to the
snow plow blade. The appellants also argue that the snow plow ring connector is not
attached to the vehicle ring connector, although they state on page 6 of their Brief that
this need not be a direct connection (lines 20 and 21). From our perspective, in the
Mecca arrangement the strap connects the snow plow ring connector to the vehicle
hook connector, and this hook would, in the modification proposed by the examiner,
connect to the vehicle ring connector, the result being that the snow plow ring connector
(the eye on the shear pin) would be attached to the vehicle ring connector (the tow
hook) by means of the strap and the hook. We also note that Mecca teaches that the
hook can be attached not only to the wheel well, but to the hood or any other crack or
crevice in the vehicle (column 4, lines 3-6). In our opinion, this would have suggested
to the artisan that any accessible attachment point on the vehicle, such as tow hooks if
they are present, could be utilized as the point of attachment of the strap hooks.
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