Appeal No. 2004-1304
Application 08/730,625
“relatively soft” when compared to typical metals, such as
stainless steel, used in the making of food serving and eating
utensils.
With regard to independent claim 1 on appeal,
appellants argue on pages 9-12 of the brief that it is preferred
in McNaughtan that the spoon would be a plastic spoon in which
plastic serves as the substrate, and that the mention of a
“metal” substrate in column 5, lines 30-33, of that patent refers
to and describes only possibilities of the invention in general.
While it is true that McNaughtan discloses that for use in an
oral thermometer the substrate “can be a plastic spoon which
would permit the administration of medicine simultaneously with
taking of the patient’s temperature” (col. 5, lines 30-33), it
is our view that the disclosure of this patent as a whole and,
in particular, the disclosure at column 8, lines 49-53, and
column 5, lines 24-37, would collectively teach an embodiment of
the temperature indicating device therein in the form of a spoon
formed with a rigid base portion made of metal and a plastic
thermochromic coating provided over the rigid base portion, which
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