Appeal No. 2004-0481
Application 09/783,260
Turning now to the second ground of rejection, the examiner attempts to read limitations
of appealed claim 1 on the bleeder valve shown in the drawing of Mercier (answer, page 5)
which, upon even casual review, reveals little correspondence therebetween,4 except that the
bleeder valve is disclosed by Mercier to “bleed accumulated gas from a pressure system” (e.g.,
col. 1, lines 34-37), and thus is an air removing means that is fluidly connected to the conduit in
which it is situated through duct 22 (cols. 1-2). The examiner finds that Mercier does not
disclose, inter alia, a tank or a gate valve, and in the same manner that we discussed above,
contends that one of ordinary skill in this art would have “substituted the fluid supply of Mercier
with the tank of [Flores]” (answer, page 5).
Appellant submits that Mercier “discloses an air bleed valve for use with hydraulic
systems,” citing col. 1, lines 19-23, and admits that this reference is more pertinent than Strong
“since at least the direction of the air bleed is like Applicant’s,” but argues that “there is no
reason or motivation, other than hindsight provided by Appellant’s disclosure to combine an air
bleed valve such as disclosed by [Mercier] with” the apparatus of Flores, because unlike the
apparatus of Flores, the hydraulic systems are closed systems (brief, pages 9-10). In this respect,
appellant points out that the purpose of the apparatus of Flores is to spray water through nozzle
60 into the air, and thus there is no motivation to remove air from the water (id., page 10).
The examiner responds that Mercier “applies to the art of valves, more particularly of the
type to provide bleeding under predetermined conditions of operation from the output line of a
pump delivering fluid under pressure (see column 1, lines 15-18),” and Flores “is relied on for
the teachings of a portable water supply in the form of a pressurized reservoir supply tank”
(answer, page 7).
We agree with appellant. We find that Flores would have disclosed to one of ordinary
skill in this art that “[t]he user activates the spray gun [60] to direct water upon a desired
surface,” and thus, the discharge assembly can be “coupled to a plurality of different devices such
as shower heads, sprinklers and drinking fountains” (col. 5, lines 50-59). The examiner submits
only that this person would use the valve of Mercier with the tank of Flores because both involve
4 For example, “the casing being of reduced diameter at 16 adjacent the liquid outlet 15” (col. 1,
lines 62-63) provides “a venturi action” (col. 1, line 47) and not a “nozzle” function as the
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