Appeal No. 2004-0160
Application No. 09/939,993
Appellant’s invention “relates generally to forced air dryers
and, more specifically, to a forced air dryer designed to dry an
infant’s bottom during the diaper changing process” (specification,
page 1). A further understanding of the invention can be derived
from a reading of exemplary claim 1, which appears in the appendix
to appellant’s main brief.
The references relied upon by the examiner in the final
rejection as evidence of obviousness are:
Martin 1,660,802 Feb. 28, 1928
Caruso 3,836,750 Sept. 17, 1974
Chimera 5,394,620 Mar. 07, 1995
Mintgen1 (DE’484) 2,637,484 April 20, 1978
(German Patent)
The following rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) are before
us for review:
(1) claims 1-3, 5-7, 13 and 15, rejected as being unpatentable
over DE 2,637,484 (hereinafter, DE ‘484) in view of Caruso;
1 Our understanding of this German language reference is
derived in part from a translation thereof prepared on behalf of
the Patent and Trademark Office. It is our understanding that
the examiner is relying not only on the German reference, but
also on an English language abstract thereof prepared by Derwent.
Copies of both the translation and the Derwent abstract are
attached to this opinion.
2
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