Appeal No. 2001-2176
Application 09/031,186
recitation of the sealing lip. As described and shown in the
underlying specification and drawings, however, the sealing lip 2
does not at least partially enclose the supporting body 3.
Hence, the language at issue appears, when read in light of the
specification, to be inaccurate, and raises questions as to
whether it should refer instead to the earlier recitation in
claim 1 of the sealing body (as disclosed, the sealing body 1 is
made of an elastomeric material and at least partially encloses
the supporting body).
Claim 1 also recites that the sealing body has “a sloped
surface facing the sealing lip.” It is not clear what this
sloped surface facing the sealing lip is, there being no apparent
description of same in the specification. While the sealing body
does have a sloped surface which contacts the sloped portion of
the supporting body, this surface faces away from the sealing
lip, not toward it.
Claim 1 further recites that “the sloped portion [of the
supporting body] is in contact with the sealing body and the
portion which contacts the sealing body faces toward the
longitudinal axis of the toroidal supporting body.” To begin
with, it is unclear whether “the portion which contacts the
sealing body” refers back to the sloped portion or to some other
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