Appeal No. 2004-0526
Application No. 09/981,975
Discussion
Dossier and Colvin each disclose a tool for driving a headed
fastener comprising a socket having a plurality of planar surfaces
(Dossier, surfaces 11; Colvin, surfaces 32), and curved connection
surfaces connecting the planar surfaces at their ends to define
said socket. Each connection surface has convex surfaces (Dossier,
surfaces 4; Colvin, surfaces 36) continuous with respective
adjacent planar surfaces, and a concave surface (Dossier, surfaces
3; Colvin, surfaces 42) continuous with the convex surfaces.
In rejecting the appealed claims as being unpatentable over
Dossier or Colvin, the examiner appears to concede that the tools
of the applied references do not meet the limitation of claim 1
calling for the concave and convex surfaces to have the same
radius. In this regard, the examiner takes the following position:
Both patents show the claimed invention except for
the specific size ranges for the convex and concave
surfaces[2], however to size any part of the tool to fit
the desired function, and as there is no clear indication
from the original specification that these ranges are
critical, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art
at the time the invention was made to modify any of the
patents to use any well known size range. [Final
2The examiner’s characterization of the difference between
the applied references and the claims as a difference in the
specific “size ranges” for the convex and concave surfaces is
misplaced, in our view.
3
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