Appeal No. 97-2421
Application 08/202,411
disclose or suggest the structure described in the present application or a structural equivalent
thereof" (Brief, page 10). At oral hearing counsel for appellants admitted that structure equivalent
to raising and lowering means in claim 17 is not limited to levers. We agree, and find that the
structure in Carteau is the equivalent of the claimed "raising and lowering means." Appellants' figure
1 shows a raising and lowering means as a block 16 and therefore it can be assumed that appellants
intend the means to broadly cover any means for performing the function, even though appellants
provide specific embodiments showing levers. If appellants had intended to limit the raising and
lowering means to a lever, they could have so limited claim 17 as in claim 22. The tensioned wire F
in Carteau lifts/lowers the head in essentially the same way as a lever except that it pulls instead of
pushes to lift and so is considered an equivalent under § 112, sixth paragraph. Carteau does not
disclose the function of lowering the head at a slower speed than a raising speed and so the structure
does not meet the "control means" limitation of claim 17.
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