Appeal No. 96-0079
Application No. 08/114,391
a feed hopper and that the plates 16 are preferably rigidly
welded in place. The American Hertigage Dictionary, Second
College Edition (1982), defines "permanent" as "Fixed and
changeless; lasting or meant to last indefinitely."
Our review of the specification, as originally filed, and
the dictionary definition leads us to conclude that one of
ordinary skill in the art would understand the terminology
"permanently affixed" as recited in claim 1 to mean that the
hopper is nonremovably affixed (such as by welding) in the
livestock feeding structure.
Additionally, we find it necessary to construe the
terminology "one side of the structure" recited in claims 1 and
4. In the description of the invention (specification, p. 3),
the appellant explains that gates, such as gate 12 in Figures 1
and 2, may be provided along one or both sides of the wagon.
Thus, the appellant's specification clearly distinguishes the
sides of the wagon 10 from the ends of the wagon (i.e., end
frames 15 and 26 seen in Figures 1 and 2). Our review of the
specification, as originally filed, thus leads us to conclude
that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the
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