Appeal No. 2002-0507 Page 7
Application No. 09/405,872
upper portion, having a multiplicity of connecting clips. . . ." Col. 1, ll. 36-39. "[E]ach
connecting clip may have a post extending through a rear surface of the block and
wires are wire-wrapped to each post in the factory in a desired arrangement." Id.
at ll. 44-46.
The reference emphasizes, however, that "[s]uch prior art connecting blocks
have a number of disadvantages." Id. at ll. 53-54. More specifically, "[m]anufacture
and installation of the blocks are quite labor intensive and time consuming, requiring
that a large number of wires (upwards of one-hundred wires or more for each block) be
either hand wired to the connecting clips on the block or individually wire-wrapped to the
posts beneath the block." Id. at ll. 54-60. "[T]o overcome the disadvantages of the
prior art [connecting blocks], [Dennis] invented a pre-wired telephone interface which is
easily secured to a telephone mounting bracket." Col. 2, ll. 5-8. Because the reference
leads in a direction divergent from a connecting block with wire wrap pins extending
upwardly therefrom, we are persuaded that it teaches away from attaching Dennis'
telephone mounting bracket to a connector block having wire wrap pins extending
upwardly therefrom. Therefore, we reverse the obviousness rejection of claim 10.
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