Appeal No. 2003-0040 4
Application No. 09/314,079
question of whether an applied reference constitutes analogous art is normally
considered to be a threshold issue. However, in the view we take in this appeal, even if
we assume that Papp is analogous art, the obviousness rejections made by the
examiner in the final rejection and maintained in the answer are not well founded.
With reference to appellant’s drawing Figure 1, each of the independent claims
on appeal calls for, in one form or another, a mat (121) having at least three
circumferentially spaced holes (124), and a plurality of cooperating fasteners (141) for
securing the mat to a roadway cover (111).
Papp, the primary reference in each of the examiner’s rejections, is directed to
plumbing cleanout apparatus which is adjustable vertically to conform to the level of a
concrete floor poured therearound. Papp’s apparatus comprises an inner cylindrical
body 13 having external threads 14 thereon. Holes 16 in the bottom of the inner body
permit the inner body to be attached to an upstanding cleanout pipe 12. A seal 18 is
formed between the top portion of the cleanout pipe and the inner portion of the inner
body. A member 19 having an outer diameter larger than the diameter of the outer
portion of the inner body is disposed over the inner body so that a concrete floor 11
poured around the cylindrical member does not come into contact with the threads of
the inner body. After the concrete cures, member 19 is removed and an outer
cylindrical body 24 having threads on the interior thereof is threadably engaged with the
threads of the inner body. Outer body 24 is rotated in one direction or the other to bring
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