Appeal No. 95-4246
Application 08/201,052
contacting wall “at one end of said barrel.” Similarly,
independent claim 34 requires a contacting wall extending
transversely “from one end of said barrel.” In addition, each
of the independent claims requires a face “extending
continuously radially outward” from the aperture of the barrel
to the periphery of the contacting wall.
Turning to Sharon, this references discloses a laser
scalpel comprising a barrel 4, 6, 7 having a lens 8 for
focusing a laser beam at the point 11, and a tip member for
targeting the laser beam on a working spot or working line of
cut. The tip member may take various forms, as illustrated in
Figures 2-11. None of the embodiments disclosed by Sharon
satisfies all of the claim requirements set forth in the
previous paragraph. The Figure 5 embodiment and the Figure 11
embodiment of Sharon are most pertinent to the claimed
invention. The Figure 5 embodiment, however, lacks a
contacting wall “at one end of said barrel” (as required by
claims 18, 31 and 35), and a contacting wall extending
transversely “from one end of said barrel” (as required by
claim 34). This is so because the leg 42 to which the tab 44
is secured is not itself a barrel, and cannot be fairly
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