Appeal 2007-0672
Application 10/399,702
(Figure. 1). The collar is composed of a flexible material of a certain
undisclosed shore hardness.
The gasket 25 releasably engages the opening in the container and
deforms and moves outwardly when exposed to pressure in the container so
as be increasingly supported on the rim of the opening (Page 2, ll. 9 to 11).
Kruegar discloses a closure 12 having a closure body that includes a
sealing element 19 having a deformable collar (col. 3, ll. 34 to 44). The
sealing element 19 flexes so as to protrude inwardly in the vertical direction
(col. 3, ll. 19 to 22) and is capable of releasingly closing a container. The
sealing element 19 also includes two portions or legs that protrude from the
rim of the container radially inwardly (Figure 2). The sealing element 19
includes several surfaces that are capable of being exposed to pressure
within a container.
The collar 20 engages the neck rim of an opening in container 10
when the container is closed (Figure 2). As pressure builds up in the
container the deformable collar is forced downwardly and thereby the collar
is increasingly supported on the neck rim and sealingly closes the opening
(col. 3, ll. 34 to 49).
Appellant has not contested the Examiner’s holding that it would have
been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the
invention to form the closure body of Krueger of any desired plastic material
on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious
design choice.
Glover discloses a closure having a flexible strap 20 that connects an
upper portion of the closure with a lower portion of the closure so that the
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