Appeal No. 97-2782 Page 10
Application No. 08/368,993
§ 1.192(c)(7), claims 29 and 40 fall with claim 26. Thus, it
follows that the decision of the examiner to reject claims 29
and 40 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) is also affirmed.
Claims 39, 45 and 46
Claims 39, 45 and 46 add to their parent claims the
further limitation that the hose is made of elastically
flexible material which is elastically, flexibly deformed by
being received in the hose guide.
The appellant argues (brief, p. 14) that Bergh does not
disclose elastic deformability or deformation of the tube 38.
We agree. While we agree with the examiner that the copper
tube 38 of Bergh is inherently flexible for the reasons
outlined above with respect to claim 26, we see no disclosure
that would have inherently disclosed that the tube 38 is
elastically flexible such that it is elastically, flexibly
deformed by being received in the channel 30. While there may
exist copper tubing which would be elastically flexible as
recited in claims 39 and 45, the combination of such known
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