Appeal No. 2003-0079 Page 10
Application No. 09/532,114
secondary gaseous fuel to a primary liquid fuel. Particularly in view of the fact that the
Ikeda engine is of the dual fuel type, there is no evidence to support the examiner's
contention that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to replace
the Ikeda carburetor with the separate throttle valve and fuel injector disclosed in the
Takeda single fuel engine, or to move the Ikeda gaseous fuel inlet to a location where
the gaseous fuel is delivered directly to the combustion engine, as in Janach. With
regard to the latter, we note that the Janach system is a single fuel system in which
gaseous fuel is mixed with air, whereas the Ikeda system mixes gaseous fuel with a
mixture of liquid fuel and air, and the question arises as to whether the Janach
teachings would be applicable to a dual fuel engine and, it follows, whether one of
ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to apply the teachings of Janach to a
dual fuel engine.
On the basis of the reasoning expressed above, it is our conclusion that the
combined teachings of Ikeda, Takeda and Janach fail to establish a prima facie case of
obviousness with regard to the subject matter recited in claim 6, and therefore we will
not sustain the rejection of this claim. From our perspective, the only suggestion for
combining the references in the manner proposed by the examiner is found in the
luxury of the hindsight afforded one who first viewed the appellants' disclosure.
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