Appeal 2006-2711
Application 10/662,935
Thulin discloses a bathtub shower bath appliance that can be coupled
to the outlet spout of a faucet for directing a spray of water vertically
downwardly and at various angles, through a short tubular arm 20, a knuckle
joint, and a long tubular arm 27 from a spray nozzle 41, by adjustment of the
angular position of the long tubular arm 27 (Thulin 1: 25-30, 2: 32-50, and
3: 25-29). As best illustrated in Fig. 7, the members 22, 25 of the knuckle
joint are held together by “suitable fastening means,” such as a bolt 29
extending axially through the members with a nut 30 threaded onto the end
of the bolt (Thulin 3: 1-5).
The Examiner finds that Thulin’s threaded member (bolt 29) is not
immovably fixed to knuckle joint member 25 in such a way that its
immovability is independent of the attachment of the nut 30, as called for in
each of Appellant’s independent claims (Answer 4). Warren teaches, in a
similar pivot joint, a threaded fastening member (stud 10) extending through
the pivot joint and being integrally formed as one piece with one of the
members of the pivot joint (Warren 1: 102-103 and Fig. 3). Warren’s pivot
joint permits part 9 of racking-tube 7 to swing freely on its seat while also
ensuring a tight joint (Warren 2: 1-3). The Examiner contends that it would
have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to immovably fix the
threaded member of Thulin’s knuckle joint “in order to facilitate tightening
of the connection” (Answer 4).
The first issue before us is whether, as argued by Appellant, Warren is
so unrelated to the Thulin environment as to be non-analogous. Two criteria
have evolved for determining whether prior art is analogous: (1) whether the
art is from the same field of endeavor, regardless of the problem addressed,
and (2) if the reference is not within the field of the inventor's endeavor,
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Last modified: September 9, 2013