Appeal No. 97-2535
Application 08/129,108
Parent claim 9 recites that the cage is permanently attached to the pallet floor plate and thus is
readable on the embodiment of Figure 5 to the exclusion of the embodiment of Figure 3. Claim 10, on
the other hand, recites the threaded nut (28) and therefore is readable on the embodiment of Figure 3
to the exclusion of the embodiment of Figure 5. In substance, the combination of claim 10 contains two
mutually exclusive limitations, namely the permanent attachment of the cage, on the one hand, and the
detachable nut attachment, on the other hand. Thus, the metes and bounds of claim 10 are obscured
because it requires reading on two mutually exclusive embodiments.
Similar to the combination of claim 10, claim 19 recites the permanent attachment of the cage to
the floor plate and detachable threaded nut connection in the same combination. Recitation of these
mutually exclusive limitations in the same combination obscures the metes and bound of claim 19 and
also of claims 20 through 24 which depend directly or indirectly from claim 19.
In summary, the examiner's decision rejecting claims 9, 10 and 14 through 24 is reversed, and
new grounds of rejections have been entered against claims 9, 10, 14/9, 14/10, 15/14/9, 15/14/10, 16,
17/19, 17/10, 18/9, 18/10 and 19 through 24 under the provisions of 37 CFR § 1.196(b).
This decision contains a new ground of rejection pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.196(b) (amended
9
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