Appeal No. 97-2483
Application 08/575,830
Inc. v. Keip Machine Company, 32 F.3d 542, 546-47, 31 USPQ2d
1666, 1670 (Fed. Cir. 1994). See also In re Barr, 444 F.2d
588, 597, 170 USPQ 330, 339 (CCPA 1971).
According to its applicable, common ordinary meaning in
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (G. & C. Merriam
Company, 1971), the word “handle” is defined as “a part that
is designed esp. to be grasped by the hand or that may be
grasped by the hand.” According to this dictionary authority,
a shaft is “a long slender part.” According to these
definitions, the handle recited in claim 1 is broad enough to
read on the free end portion of Grote’s member 39, and the
claimed shaft is broad enough to read on the portion of
Grote’s member 39 extending from the free end portion to the
back of the housing 31. It is noted that neither claim 1 nor
claim 4 requires the handle to be disposed at an angle with
respect to the shaft in the manner shown in the application
drawings. The claimed subject matter is therefore broad enough
to read on Grote’s structure.
Based on the foregoing analysis of the Grote patent, we
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