Appeal No. 97-2785
Application 08/173,698
female housing 28. According to claim 1, the only3
independent claim in the original patent, the male coupler
body is formed with a truncated surface means (29) which
slopes upwardly at a constantly changing slope.
Urging that the original patent claims 1 through 4 were
too narrow because of the limitation pertaining to the
truncated surface means, appellant introduced claims 5 through
8. Claims 5 through 7 broaden the limitation pertaining to the
truncated surface, and claim 8 deletes this limitation all
3In each of the rejected independent reissue claims added in
this reissue application, the body of the claim is
inconsistent with the preamble of the claim in that the body
recites the combination of the flexible conduit (14) and
elements of the male fitting assembly whereas the preamble is
directed to the male fitting assembly per se. In each of these
claims, we have interpreted the preamble as defining a
structure which includes the elements recited in the body to
establish consistency between the preamble and the body of the
claim. It is noted that each of these independent reissue
claims incorrectly recites that the male coupler fitting
assembly is identified by the reference numeral 10. In
contrast, the descriptive portion of the specification applies
the reference numeral 10 to designate the remote motion-
transmitting control assembly. With particular regard to
claims 6 and 8, we have interpreted the recitation of
“opposite sides” of the flexible conduit to mean the opposite
ends of the conduit. With further regard to claims 6 and 8, we
have interpreted the recitation of “either side” of the
cylindrical body portion to mean either end of the body
portion.
3
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