Appeal No. 2006-1482
Application No. 10/619,890
would not be aware how to use the ignitor of Adams for igniting
reactive materials such as explosives in a mine.
Nor are we persuaded by appellants’ assertion (brief,
page 7) that “the incorporation of a hermetically-sealed
automotive-style igniter into a detonator a key advance that
permits the claimed firing-readiness diagnostics to be
implemented - was not within the ordinary skill in the art at
the time.” The automobile ignitor of Adams is sealed and coated
to provide an environmental seal (col. 6, lines 40-49), has
firing-readiness diagnostics, and the reference discloses being
capable of being used as a detonator for explosives in mines.
From this disclosure and the disclosure of the LemurZone article
that the automobile airbag igniter is a detonator, we find that
the incorporation of a hermetically-sealed automotive-style
igniter into a detonator was within the level of skill of an
artisan at the time of appellants’ invention.
Turning to the Tirmizi Declaration, appellants acknowledge
that (brief, page 8) that the Declaration was made in the context
of an obviousness determination in another application.
Appellants assert that the Declaration supports appellants’
contention that there is no adequate or inherent disclosure in
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