Appeal No. 95-4344
Application 08/087,030
engine. The pipe consists of inner and outer flexible conduits 1 and 2. As described by Collom,
[t]he flexible conduits 1 and 2 are each formed of a continuous helical winding of metal strip,
ribbon or the like 3 having a substantially S-shaped cross section form so that the successive
convolutions thereof may be slidably interlocked with adjacent convolutions to permit a substantial
range of flexibility in the exhaust assembly, and asbestos or like packing 3a is disposed
intermediate certain of said interlocking portions to tightly seal the joint between successive
convolutions of the strips 3 [page 1, column 1, lines 36 through 47].
The examiner acknowledges (see page 3 in the answer) that Collom does not disclose, and
would not have suggested, a flexible tubular conduit having a discrete end section bearing in face-to-
face contact at its end surfaces on the first main portion of an immediately adjacent turn as recited in
claim 18. The examiner’s reliance on the Chicago Metal Hose Corporation Catalog to overcome this4
deficiency (see page 3 in the answer) is not well founded.
The Chicago Metal Hose Corporation Catalog discloses a number of exhaust conduits formed
from helically wound, S-shaped metal strips having interlocking convolutions. The RT-15 embodiment
relied upon by the examiner appears from the illustrations thereof to have a discrete end section
corresponding generally to the discrete end section set forth in claim 18. It is not at all clear, however,
4Based on the underlying specification and the comments of counsel at the oral hearing, we
understand the recitation in claim 18 that the discrete end section bears in face-to-face contact at its
end surfaces on the first main portion of the immediately adjacent turn to mean that the discrete end
portion is in surface-to-surface contact along its length, as opposed to edge or point contact, with the
first main portion of the immediately adjacent turn.
3
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