Appeal 2007-2378
Application 10/837,098
1 Assuming for the sake of argument that one skilled in the art had need for a
2 better pipe towing device than the rudimentary one Carter describes, and
3 consistent with the teachings of Brewis et al. in connection with back
4 reamers, one skilled in the art would connect the pipe towing head of Brewis
5 et al[.] to the back of Carter’s mole and use it in place of the sleeve and
6 screws Carter provides for that purpose. However, such a combination
7 would not achieve either the method or apparatus of the rejected claims,
8 since there would be no pipe bursting projection on the towing head. There
9 is no suggestion present in either of the references that Carter’s mole be
10 omitted in its entirety and a blade be provided on the front of what had been
11 used previously only as a pipe towing head. Only appellants recognized this
12 possibility.
13
14 The Appellants’ argument does not follow from the references because there is no
15 disclosure of connecting a towing head behind a pipe bursting head. Carter’s
16 disclosure of a towing head/pipe bursting projection combination would have led
17 one of ordinary skill in the art, through no more than ordinary creativity, to place a
18 pipe bursting projection on Brewis’s towing head so that, like Carter’s towing/pipe
19 bursting head, Brewis’s towing head would also perform the function of pipe
20 bursting.
21 Claims 4, 5, 15 and 16
22 The Appellants argue (Reply Br. 8):
23 Carter’s moles 40, 220 terminate in a towing eyelet 228, with the blades
24 projecting from the sides, not the front surface, of the mole. Thus, even if
25 there were reason to, moving Carter’s blades to the pipe towing head of
26 Brewis et al. would still not achieve the claimed combination. There is no
27 “pipe bursting projection on its frontwardly facing outer surface” in the mole
28 of Carter et al.
29
30 The Appellants’ pipe bursting head also terminates in a towing eyelet (14, fig. 1).
31 A pipe bursting projection on Brewis’s towing head’s tubular body (14) would be
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