Appeal No. 2001-2178
Application No. 09/039,466
loop/knot of Hermanson as a slip knot. Slip knots
are well [known] connection means.
As to the applicant[’]s claims of a door the
examiner notes that Hermanson discloses a door, as
to the device of Hermanson [including] a door knob
the examiner notes that most doors have door knobs,
and as to the applicant claiming a loop attached to
the door knob the examiner notes that the loop of
Hermanson is capable of being attached to a door
knob [answer, pages 3 and 4].
The slip knot attachment recited in claim 1 is described
in the underlying specification (see pages 5 and 6) as having
particular significance within the context of the claimed
exercising device in that when tightened it causes the two
legs or ends of the elastic cord to function independently of
one another and when loosened it allows the two legs or ends
to function in concert with one another. Slip knots certainly
were well known expedients at the time of the appellant’s
invention as evidenced by Froelich. There is nothing in this
conventional knowledge, however, or in Froelich, which would
have suggested any reason, let alone the particular benefits
contemplated by the appellant, for modifying Hermanson’s
anchoring loop 3 to include a slip knot attachment. The mere
fact that the prior art could be so modified would not have
made the modification obvious unless the prior art suggested
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