Appeal No. 2002-1266 Page 4
Application No. 09/757,603
been obvious to modify the Boice lawn mower to provide such a feature in view of the
teachings of Munnoch “in order to make it easier to stow away the seat when it is not in
use without affecting the position of the foot platform” (Answer, page 3). The appellants
argue in rebuttal that (1) in the Boice tractor the foot supports are not “between” the
drive wheels, (2) Boice fails to disclose a deployable seat, (3) Munnoch teaches away
from their invention because the foot supports move with the seat, (4) there would have
been no suggestion to combine the references in the manner proposed by the
examiner, and (5) even if combined they would not yield the claimed invention.
The appellants’ invention is directed to lawn mowers of the type having first and
second drive wheels opposite one another and separately and independently driveable
so that the mower can perform zero radius turns. The operator can assume either a
standing or a sitting position during operation of the mower and, while in a standing
position, be substantially unaffected by centrifugal force created during zero radius
turns. See specification, pages 15 and 16. As manifested in the claims, the mower is
provided with a foot platform in which “at least a portion of the foot platform is located
between the first and second drive wheels.” The interpretation applied to “between” is a
key factor in evaluating the patentability of the claims. Contrary to the position taken by
the examiner, it is our opinion that in view of the description of the invention in the
specification one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the claim limitation of
locating at least a portion of the foot platform “between” the first and second drive
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