Appeal No. 2005-0880 6
Application No. 09/963,815
assembly 102 and a vacuum relief valve (not shown). Allison
teaches that
elastomeric nozzle seal 212 . . . is adapted to
resiliently and sealing engage the exterior periphery
of nozzle “N” upon insertion therethrough prior to
engagement with back splash door 82. Once nozzle “N”
is inserted through nozzle opening 88, the rushing
liquid fuel dispensed therefrom creates a vacuum behind
nozzle seal 212 in chamber 89. As such, the vacuum
relief valve assembly permits air to be drawn into
chamber 89 from exterior chamber 92 during the
refueling process while preventing the escape of vapors
therefrom [column 8, lines 48 through 58].
In proposing to modify the admitted prior art in view of
Allison to reject claim 1, the examiner submits that it would
have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person
having ordinary skill in the art
to employ in the fill cup 5a of instant figure 5 of the
application [the admitted prior art] a support plate
having mounted thereon a seal element for supporting
and sealing the fuel filler nozzle . . . for the
purpose of sealing the open end of the fill neck 202
[sic, filler tube 4a] and nozzle “N” [sic, refueling
nozzle 3a] thus precluding straight venting of fuel
vapor to the atmosphere as recognized by Allison [final
rejection, pages 2 and 3].
The appellant counters that this rejection is unsound due to
a lack of any suggestion or basis for the proposed combination of
the admitted prior art and Allison (see page 3 in the main
brief), and more specifically because
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007