Appeal 2007-1670
Application 10/102,565
appear to be circular, and the opening (50) will thus always allow passage of
member (46) in the opening (50), regardless of the position of the drum assembly
(24) (Appeal Br. 7). The Examiner responds that Dobson shows, in Figures 5 and
7, an opening (50) shaped to receive the cable drum housing (24) when the
member (46) is not yet mounted to fingers (58), and shaped to prevent the cable
drum housing (24) from passing back through the opening (50) once the member
(46) is mounted in a fixed position to fingers (58) (Answer 4-5). Claim 35 is
written broadly to describe only a first position and a second position. Although
Appellants’ Figure 3 shows a first position in which the lugs and triangular-shaped
openings are not aligned and a second position in which the cable drum housing is
rotated so that the lugs and the triangular-shaped openings are aligned, the claim
does not further define the claimed “positions” and we decline to read this specific
embodiment of the aligned and unaligned positions into the claim.
Dobson discloses, with reference to Figure 5, that “[a]s the male member 46
is inserted through the opening, the fingers 58 flex over the head portion 60 and
grip about the neck portion 62” (Finding of Fact 10). Once the member (46) has
been inserted, the opening (50) is shaped by virtue of the fingers 58 to prevent the
member (46) from passing back through the opening (50) (Finding of Fact 11). As
such, we agree with the Examiner’s finding that Dobson discloses an opening
shaped to receive the cable drum housing when the cable drum housing is in a first
position and shaped to prevent the cable drum housing from passing through the
opening when the cable drum housing is in a second position, as recited in claim
35 (Finding of Fact 12). The Appellants did not provide any separate arguments
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