Appeal No. 2000-1337
Application No. 08/955,002
peripheries, whereas the ports, apertures and chambers
disclosed and claimed by the appellant are recesses, spaces or
cavities which are not bounded or enclosed about their entire
effective peripheries.
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (G. & C. Merriam Co.
1977) defines the term “port” as meaning “an opening for
intake or exhaust of a fluid esp. in a valve seat or valve
face,” the
term “chamber” as meaning “a natural or artificial enclosed
space or cavity,” and the term “aperture” as meaning “an
opening or open space : HOLE.” These definitions are broad1
enough to cover the “ports,” “chamber” and “apertured” fingers
disclosed and claimed by the appellant. Thus, the appellant’s
specification and claims are not misdescriptive in the sense
urged by the examiner. Moreover, even if there was some
inconsistency here, the claims would nonetheless point out and
circumscribe the appellant’s invention with a reasonable
degree of precision and particularity since there is no real
question as to what the terms at issue mean when read in light
These definitions are in accord with those advanced by the appellant1
and the examiner.
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