Appeal No. 97-3199
Application No. 08/273,767
“configuration” having openings therein being evenly
distributed over the guide “configuration”. Based upon
appellants’ underlying disclosure, the broadly claimed guide
“configuration” is readable upon a guide “configuration”, such
as shown in appellants’ Figure 2, wherein “openings” in the
“configuration” are spaces about the trapezoidal guide vanes
16a to 16e and the support pipes 18.
With the above claim analysis in mind, it is at once
apparent to this panel of the board that the combined mixing
and deflecting unit of claim 1 is addressed by the Gilles
document (Figure 3). The Gilles reference reveals, in
particular, a guide “configuration”, as broadly characterized
in claim 1, in the form of slat 10a, for example, which
provides openings therein, i.e., the spaces about the tongues
11 permitting the passage of fluid.
The argument advanced by appellants (main brief, pages 13
and 14) is not persuasive. We are in basic agreement with the
views expressed by the examiner in the answer (page 11)
regarding the Gilles patent. We would only add that, contrary
to the view set forth in the main brief (page 14), the
characterized “voids” between the respective tabs of Gilles
10
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