Appeal 2007-1465
Application 10/229,414
The purpose of the part 58, and fins 59 thereof, is to stabilize the stem
portion 53 of poppet 30 during its travel within outlet passage 45 between
different flow positions to prevent vibration, oscillation and wobble. Fins 59
fulfill this purpose by cooperating with the internal peripheral surface 46 of
housing 22. A person of ordinary skill in the art would immediately
understand that such stability can be provided equally well either by a
stabilizing structure extending radially outwardly from the stem portion 53
of poppet 30, as in the part 58 with fins 59 specifically disclosed by Otto, or
by a structure extending radially inwardly from the internal peripheral
surface 46 of housing 22. Moreover, application of the alternative structure
extending radially inwardly from the internal peripheral surface 46 of
housing 22 would have involved merely the securement of a cylindrical ring
structure with circumferentially spaced fins extending inwardly radially
toward stem portion 53 of poppet 30 and thus would have been well within
the technical grasp of a person of ordinary skill in the art.
Appellant argues that the modification proposed by the Examiner to
form the fins 59 as a part of the housing 22 is not possible because the stem
portion 53 would remove from the opening 61 of the carrier means 57 each
time the poppet 30 moves to another position and, when the poppet 30
returned to its original position, stem portion 53 would have to re-align with
and be received within the opening 61 of the carrier means 57(Appeal Br.
4-5). This argument is unsound because it improperly presumes lack of
common sense on the part of the person of ordinary skill in the art. "A
person of ordinary skill is also a person of ordinary creativity, not an
automaton." KSR, 127 S.Ct. at 1742, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. In forming the
fins 59 as part of the housing 22, extending radially inwardly from the
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