Appeal No. 2003-0013
Application No. 09/569,539
corresponding mounting points so that the seating platform is no
longer suspended in a stable manner. In an effort to overcome
these deficiencies, Boudreau redesigned the mounting means for
connecting the inboard ends of the springs. With reference to
Figures 1-4, Boudreau explains that
[e]ach assembly includes a barrel-shaped coil spring [46]
whose outboard end is hooked in a conventional way to an
eye [52] mounted to the support. However, the hook at
the inboard end of each spring is hooked to a special
bracket [56] swivelingly engaged to the adjacent post
[32] projecting from the side of the horse. Each bracket
forms an eye [62] which lies in a plane parallel to the
post and, as noted above, the bracket can pivot or swivel
about the post axis so that the inboard end of the spring
connected thereto can swing freely about the post axis no
matter how the spring is hooked to the bracket or to the
support. Since the inboard ends of all of the springs
supporting the horse are permitted to swing to the same
extent relative to the projecting post to which they are
connected, the bouncing motion of the horse is much more
uniform than is the case with the conventional
spring-supported bouncing toys described at the outset.
Also included at the inboard end of each spring is a
special safety clip [72] which plugs into the end of the
spring coil. The clip includes a hook [72a] which
projects from the end of the coil which is arranged to
hook onto the bracket [56] in the opposite direction from
the hook formed at that end of the spring. In other
words, the spring hook and the clip hook together form a
closed ring which prevents the inboard end of that spring
from becoming detached from its bracket no matter how
vigorously the horse may be bounced by a child thereon.
[Boudreau, col. 2, lines 34-63].
The examiner finds that Boudreau teaches a spring connection
assembly “including a plurality of barrel shaped springs (46), each
4
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