Appeal No. 96-1391
Application 08/170,503
Sconce’s cold pack 63 or 64, which constitutes both the “first
means” and the “self contained means,” is located within the
“packaging element” formed by walls 14 and 42; therefore, the
three recited means are included “at least in part” within
Sconce’s packaging element in that two of them are so
included.
Column 1, lines 11 to 23 of the Byrd reference,
cited by the examiner, discloses that the blood-pressure cuffs
of sphygmomanometers can become contaminated from use on
patients, and that it has been recommended that the problem be
solved by using a sterilized cuff. Although appellants argue
on page 9 of
their brief that “unless a penetrating wound is involved, the
use of a sterile surface is unnecessary,” Byrd’s teaching is
to the contrary. The noted disclosure of Byrd would, in our
view, have
suggested to one of ordinary skill that other “cuffs,” such as
the inflatable splint of Sconce, may become contaminated by
use on patients, and that the surface which contacts the
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