Appeal No. 2004-0415
Application No. 09/764,743
admittedly old shopping cart, wherein improvement is said to
include the implementation of:
[A] spring urged brake mechanism capable of
selectively impinging against said rear wheels in order
to provide a braking force; and
[M]eans for releasing said impinging when two
respective shopping carts are nested together.
The dispositive question is, therefore, whether one of
ordinary skill in the art would have been led to employ the above
improvement in the old shopping cart. On this record, we answer
this question in the affirmative.
As is apparent from this record, the appellants do not
dispute the examiner’s finding1 that:
Trimble teaches a conventional shopping cart comprising
front and rear wheels, a basket with an upper rim (Figure 1)
and a spring (60) urged brake mechanism capable of
selectively impinging against the rear wheels (Figure 1) in
order to provide a braking force, and
means for releasing said impinging when two respective
shopping carts are nested (lines 18-21 of column 6).
In other words, the appellants do not dispute that Trimble
teaches the claimed improvement, i.e., the claimed spring urged
brake mechanism and releasing means. See also Trimble, column 5,
lines 10-62 and column 6, lines 7-25. According to Trimble
1 Compare the Answer, page 3, with the Brief in its
entirety.
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