Appeal No. 2004-0299
Application No. 09/932,543
9. A hand tool, comprising:
a shank having a proximal end joined to an operational head,
the shank including an elongated groove;
a slidable sleeve having an internal channel, the sleeve
sized to receive the shank, the sleeve defining a set aperture;
a set disposed in the set aperture and positioned to bias
into the elongated groove, the set preventing sliding between the
shank and sleeve when tightened and the set allowing sliding
between the shank and the sleeve when loosened; and
a selective lock relating between the sleeve and the shank,
the lock preventing separation of the sleeve and the shank when
the sleeve and shank are in rotational alignment, the lock
allowing separation of the sleeve and the shank when the sleeve
and shank are out of rotational alignment.
The references set forth below are relied upon by the
examiner as evidence of obviousness:
Prichard 2,869,410 Jan. 20, 1959
Tremblay 3,227,015 Jan. 4, 1966
Raber 5,109,737 May 5, 1992
Claims 1-3, 5, 7 and 8 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Tremblay; claim 6 stands
correspondingly rejected over Tremblay in view of Prichard;
claims 4, 9-13 and 15-20 stand correspondingly rejected over
Tremblay in view of Raber; and claim 14 stands correspondingly
rejected over Tremblay in view of Raber and further in view of
Prichard.1
1 On page 3 of the brief, the appellant has grouped claims
(continued...)
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