Appeal No. 2006-0305 6
Application No. 10/370,545
Moreover, the appellants have not cogently explained, and it is not evident, why this
externally threaded, centrally located post is not adapted to removably engage a bottom
drain via a threaded surface centrally located in the bottom of the drain as recited in
claim 1.
As conceded by the examiner, however, Merritt does not respond to the
limitations in claims 1 and 4-6 relating to the “hose” and the “hose fitting on the shower
spout.” To account for these deficiencies, the examiner turns to Jones and Davis.
Jones discloses a drain flushing device similar in many respects to that disclosed
by Merritt. Of particular interest is Jones’ teaching that the device may be conveniently
connected to a faucet 18 (see Figure 1) to supply the pressurized water needed to flush
the drain. To effect the connection, Jones utilizes a hose 17 which is coupled at its
opposite ends to the flushing device and faucet by any usual and suitable construction
such as the threaded coupling 16 shown in Figure 2 (see page 1, lines 86-98).
Davis discloses a conventional bathtub shower comprising a water output pipe 12
having an externally threaded end extending from a wall of the shower for connection to
a typical shower head (see column 2, lines 11-35).
The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference
may be bodily incorporated into the structure of a primary reference; nor is it that the
claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references.
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