Appeal No. 2003-0693
Application No. 09/006,248
Blatt ‘556 discloses an end arm manipulator apparatus
comprising an elongated boom 20 having support arms 22, 24 slidably
mounted thereon, and vacuum cup gripper assemblies V1, V2 mounted
to the ends of the respective support arms. The boom includes two
parallel and elongated internal passages 34 that carry air under
pressure (col. 1, lines 28-33; col. 3, lines 19-21). In order to
supply air under pressure to the gripper assemblies, a drill bit is
utilized to tap into one of the passages 34 and an air hose H is
run from the tap location to the gripper assembly (col., 5, lines
10-14). The air hose is illustrated in Figure 1 as running along
the side of the support arm.
Kraft is directed to an underwater manipulator system. The
system includes a pair of manipulator arms 1, each having a powered
gripper 14 at the distal end thereof. As may be discerned from a
review of Figures 4, 18, 19, 21 and 30, hoses for supplying motive
fluid to power the grippers are routed at least partially through
the interiors of the arms.
Given the collective teachings of these references, we
conclude, as did the examiner, that it would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of appellants’
invention to (1) provide a pair of parallel and elongated internal
bores operable to carry fluid in the base members (i.e., rails 38)
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