Appeal No. 1998-2482
Application No. 08/533,429
OPINION
Turning first to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, the examiner
contends that there is no support in the original disclosure for “the leg members are
deflected away from each other.” [answer-page 3].
We will not sustain this rejection because there is clear evidence in the originally
filed disclosure that appellant had possession of the invention now claimed. Although the
original disclosure recited that the deflectable leg members were disposed to “deflect
horizontally and vertically...” [pages 4 and 9 and original claim 1, for example], in our view,
this recitation, taken together with the original drawings Figures 2A and 2B, makes it clear
that, at the time of originally filing the application, appellant had in his possession the
invention whereby the leg members are caused to “deflect away from each other” when the
gasket is placed between two opposing substrates and the substrates are drawn together.
Fig. 2A shows the gasket 48 prior to the substrates being drawn together and Fig. 2B
shows the gasket 48 after the substrates are drawn together via fastener 80. Clearly, as
shown in Fig. 2B, the leg members 50 and 52 have been deflected away from each other,
as claimed. Accordingly, there is clear support in the original disclosure for the leg
members being caused “to deflect away from each other.”
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