Appeal No. 97-2600
Application 08/500,091
wire does not necessarily cut, does so in the context of the
spiral or wire being “smoothly contoured” (Auburn) or
“rounded” (Alvord). Accordingly, based on the evidence before
us, we are of the opinion that the appellants’ original
disclosure taken as a whole reasonably conveys to the artisan
that the edges on the spiral or wire 48 depicted in Fig. 7 of
the drawing are “cutting edges.”
As to the examiner’s contention that there is no
descriptive support for an “advancing element,” the
appellants’ specification clearly states that during the
penetration of body tissue that “[v]ia the rotating spiral 48
and the attached thereto thread 24, the trocar bores into the
tissue” (see page 16, lines 2-4; emphasis ours). This
being the case, we do not believe it can seriously be
contended that the appellants’ original disclosure reasonably
conveys to one of ordinary skill in this art that the
appellants were in possession of “an advancing element” as
of the filing date sought.
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