Appeal Number: 2006-3291
Application Number: 10/178,845
This structure is defined, therefore, by the anatomical structure of a seat device
user, and by where that user positions a worn belt, in particular, where the lower
edge of the belt is on the user’s back. Both the user’s position with respect to the
seat and the belt position are variable by user.
The difference in height between where a large person with substantial hip
width and buttocks would position the lower edge of a belt and where a petite
person with diminutive hip width and buttocks would so position a belt is at least
several inches.
A duty belt rests on the user’s hips and buttocks so that its lower edge would
generally be worn at a height relatively close to where the wearer’s sacrum begins.
The height along the seat at which a large person’s sacrum would begin would
therefore be above the position at which a petite person’s sacrum would begin, and
thus the position at which a petite person would position the lower edge of a belt.
Davis shows a seat device whose back has an upper portion with substantial
thickness that forms a pillow (fig. 4, ref. 44 and col. 4, l. 63 to col. 5, l. 12).
Davis indicates that the intended use of the pillow is lumbar support (col. 5, ll.
6-7). This statement of intended use does not alter the structural description of the
upper portion.
The upper portion of Davis’s seat would touch different users at different parts
of the back, and in particular, once Davis’s seat was positioned to support a large
person, even were that large person to position the pillow in the lumbar region, a
significantly smaller person would encounter that pillow in the thoracic region
instead, absent any further adjustment of the seat.
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