Appeal No. 2002-0331
Application No. 09/382,735
page 4). Oval or slotted shapes of the apertures are such that
as the king-pin plate 106 pivots about axis 108, the pins, if
extended, may have a certain degree of give in their respective
apertures, thereby minimizing excessive force which might shear
the pins (specification, page 6).
As we see it, the disclosed locking of an articulating
trailer into a non-articulating position by the engagement of one
or more retractable pins with one or more apertures would be
fairly well understood by one versed in the art at issue as
descriptively supporting the recitation in claim 9 of
“maintaining the axle of the trailer-pulling unit, and the axles
of the trailer in parallel when the member is engaged.” In our
view, appellant’s teaching of oval or slotted shapes for the
apertures does not detract from the aforementioned locking into a
non-articulating position since the shaped apertures appear to
simply permit a certain degree of give in the direction of a
longer dimension of the oval or slotted shapes to avoid shearing
of a pin. It is for these reasons that we cannot sustain the
examiner’s rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph.
6
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