Appeal No. 2001-2639 Page 4
Application No. 09/386,753
respective positions articulated by the appellants and the
examiner. As a consequence of our review, we make the
determinations which follow.
Claim 1 recites, inter alia, “support means mounted in
said bore between said pneumatic means and said cover to
dispose a center of a ball on said axis.” Likewise, claim 7,
the only other independent claim on appeal, recites, inter
alia, “support means in said bore of said barrel upstream of
said lateral opening for mounting the golf ball coaxially
within said bore of said barrel...”.
The sixth paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112 states:
An element in a claim for a combination may be
expressed as a means or step for performing a
specified function without the recital of structure,
material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim
shall be construed to cover the corresponding
structure, material, or acts described in the
specification and equivalents thereof.
Consistent with the sixth paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112,
we look to appellants’ specification to determine the
structure described therein (and equivalents thereof) which
corresponds to the “support means ...” recited in claims 1 and
7. We are informed by appellants’ specification that
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