Appeal No. 1999-2544 Page 25
Application No. 08/796,513
the appellant's "heating means" recited in claim 12 is
readable on Jackson's heated water which is drawn through the
space between the loosely-nested fibers (column 4, lines 28-
29). In that regard, Jackson's heated water, while not
performing the appellant's unclaimed basic objective of
operating all hollow fibers at the same temperature, does
directly and substantially evenly heat an outer
circumferential surface of the hollow fibers. While the
majority is correct that one of ordinary skill in the art
would have understood that Jackson's heated water would
inherently have lost some amount of heat as the heated water
flows from the area of the fibers nearest the inlet (21) to
the area of the fibers near the outlet (23) such that all
areas of the fibers would not operate at the same temperature,
it is my opinion that as the heated water flows from the area
of the fibers nearest the inlet (21) to the area of the fibers
near the outlet (23) at least an outer circumferential surface
of one of the hollow fibers would inherently be directly and
substantially evenly heated by the heated water. Thus, I read
the claim 12 limitation of "an outer circumferential surface
of said hollow fibers" as not requiring heating of all of the
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