Appeal No. 97-1626
Application 08/299,123
specification and reads:
The unit body 43 assembled in this way is
removed from the pallet 13 by a sorting device 76,
and is conveyed on a conveyor 77 toward the next
working station wherein the unit body 43 is wrapped
with the outer casing 44. The empty pallet 13 is
fed back to the supply section 69 through the feed-
back conveyor 78.
A careful reading of the above reveals that there is no
mention whatsoever of any apparatus, and in particular the
sorting device 76, for transferring pallets from the most
downstream one of the intermittent conveyors to the feed back
conveyor 78. Likewise, there is no mention whatsoever of any
apparatus, and in particular the parts supply section 69, for
transferring pallets from the feed back conveyor 78 to the
most upstream one of the intermittent conveyors. In addition,
there is no representation whatsoever in drawing Figure 2 or
any other drawing figure of any cooperation or interconnection
between the feed back conveyor 78 and either the sorting
device 76 or the parts supply section 69 for carrying out the
transferring functions recited in the means-plus-function
limitations of claim 1.
Means-plus-function language in a claim must be construed
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