Appeal No. 2003-0079 Page 9
Application No. 09/532,114
and increased power," as is "well known," (Paper No. 18, page 2). However, no
evidence in support of this conclusion has been presented.
Janach discloses a system wherein gaseous fuel is injected directly into the
combustion chamber of an engine for the purpose of improving the mixing of the
gaseous fuel and the air flowing through the inlet air conduit. The patentee states that
this is an improvement over the prior art systems wherein the air and gaseous fuel were
mixed upstream of the combustion chamber in the air inlet passages, where it was
difficult to regulate the mixture ratio and to provide uniform mixing of the gaseous fuel
and air (column 1). There is no indication that the engines to which the Janach
invention is applied are other than the single fuel type.
The mere fact that the prior art structure could be modified does not make such a
modification obvious unless the prior art suggests the desirability of doing so. See, In
re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Gir. 1984). In the present
case, we fail to perceive any teaching, suggestion or incentive which would have led
one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the Ikeda system in such a manner as to meet
the terms of claim 6. As we stated above, the primary and secondary fuel inlets in
Ikeda are the reverse of what is required by claim 6, and there is no evidence to
suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art that they be altered to meet the terms of the
claim, especially in view of the fact that the objective of the Ikeda invention is to add a
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