Appeal No. 97-1250
Application 08/347,087
Alternatively, the appellant argues that
[a]ssuming that the curved portion D10a of Udagawa
is considered to be formed at the inner end portion of
the upper plate, the flange D10b and the core D10d of
Udagawa should be considered as a part of the inner end
portion. In this case, the main sealing portion of
Udagawa is formed by the flange D10b and the core D10d
located in the inner end portion and a part of the
plate D10 located above the core D10d. In the
invention, however, the main sealing portion is formed
by bending the first metal plate outside the inner end
portion, not by the inner end portion. Thus, the main
sealing portion of Udagawa is not formed by the first
metal plate outside the inner end portion as defined in
claim 1 of the invention [brief, pages 7 and 8].
The examiner’s determination that the curved portion D10a on
the Udagawa gasket meets the limitations in claims 1 and 12
requiring a heat preventing portion formed at an inner end
portion of the first plate is well founded. During patent
examination, claims are given their broadest reasonable
interpretation consistent with the underlying specification
without reading limitations from the specification into the
claims. In re Prater, 415 F.2d 1393, 1404-05, 162 USPQ 541, 550-
51 (CCPA 1969). Pursuant to this principle of claim
construction, the words “an inner end portion of the first plate”
in claims 1 and 12 are properly interpreted as referring to the
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