Appeal No. 1999-2278 Page 6
Application No. 08/641,442
discussed in appellants' specification, Wanger discloses a
two-fingered picker in which the state of the pickers is
changed from a gripping state to a splayed state only if a
cartridge is present. Appellants' specification states that
the improvement over Wanger is that the state of the gripper
can be changed from a gripping state to a splayed state
without requiring a cartridge to be present (specification,
pages 11 and 12). Appellants specification states (id.) that
Wanger does not disclose "enabling the post to move past the
gate into the second track, even when no data cartridge is
being gripped" as required by claim 1. The examiner's
position (answer, pages 3 and 5) is that this limitation is
met by Wanger, and that Wanger discloses that the post is
deflected by the gate (col. 7, lines 39-45;
col. 8, line 67 to col. 9, line 31, and figures 8-10).
Appellants disagree with the examiner's interpretation of
Wanger (brief, pages 10-14), and note (id., page 14) that
claim 1 does not recite that the gate deflects the post, but
rather that the post deflects the gate.
From our review of Wanger, we are in agreement with
appellants, for the reasons set forth in the brief (pages 10-
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