Appeal No. 2003-0396 Page 3
Application No. 09/698,570
support of the rejections and to the brief (Paper No. 12) for the appellant's arguments
thereagainst.
OPINION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to
the appellant's specification and claims, to the applied prior art references, and to the
respective positions articulated by the appellant and the examiner. As a consequence
of our review, we make the determinations which follow.
Gardner discloses a connector for use to connect air lines and/or electrical signal
and power lines for a rail car braking system. Gardner teaches that the disclosed
connector is an improvement over conventional gladhand couplings, which, according
to Gardner, are ill-suited for connecting both air and electrical lines since the gladhand
couplings are rotated to join the couplings (column 1, lines 50-53).
Gardner’s connector is best understood by reference to Figures 1 and 8. The
connector includes an axial lumen 18 for passage of pneumatic fluid and a gasket 26
surrounding the lumen. The distal end 16 of the connector body is provided with tabs
20 and slots 22 which act as a keying mechanism to orient the connector faces when
the connectors are coupled together. The connector further includes an electrical
housing 68 provided with lumens 70 in which male contacts 72 and female contacts 74
are disposed. Attachment of two identical connectors is accomplished by positioning
the distal ends of the connectors to face each other, aligning the tabs 20 of each
connector with the slots 22 of the other connector and then moving the connectors
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