Prior art, non obviousness and an expired patent

I've seen this described before in great detail but I'm unable to find a good discussion about it right now when I need clarification.

I have a PPA for what let's called a Cadillac version of a widget. A prior art search found a granted and expired patent for something very close but not precisely on point. The independent claims have a couple of small items that would differentiate my version from the granted version. The specification does not clearly call out an embodiment that'd match my version, either. It's described fairly narrowly.

We could compare them like this: The prior art is a three-legged chair whereas mine is a four-legged chair with usb charger, power switch and built-in radio.

So my ask is two-fold:

1) Since the prior art patent is expired, do I still care about the claims or does only what's in the specification matter?

2) If the prior art patent is close but not as Cadillac as mine, will my filing just simply get shot down for non-obviousness?

And yes, I have an attorney I'm working with on this but he's out of the office until Tuesday so I'm biting my nails until then hoping to resolve some angst by asking strangers on the internet.

Submitted May 11, 2018 at 08:29PM by thumperj https://ift.tt/2IbviPh