Appeal No. 96-4164
Application 08/467,295
son possessing ordinary skill in the art, and particularly when
this language is viewed in light of the invention as seen in
Figure 5B of the application drawings, the claim language requir-
ing the step of “moving said valve member out of engagement with
the seating face” in appellant’s claim 14 on appeal would be
understood to require that the entirety of the valve member be
moved out of engagement with the seating face, prior to shifting
of the valve member to the second position, which step is
clearly not present in Van Allen. Note particularly, page 9,
lines 15-17, of appellant’s specification, wherein it is indi-
cated that the valve member “moves to its second position by
shifting axially away from the port plate 36,” rotating 90
degrees about the longitudinal housing assembly axis (70) and
then shifting back into engagement with the port plate (36). In
the paragraph bridging pages 15 and 16 of appellant’s specifica-
tion, it is again emphasized that the valve member (24) is
unseated and shifted axially away from the port plate (36), with
the result that the valve member is “freely rotatable relative to
the guide member 72 and slide 102 so that negligible frictional
resistance to valve member rotation about the axis 70 exists.”
Thus, it is clear that the examiner’s comments in the paragraph
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