Appeal No. 97-3210
Application No. 08/386,388
claim 1 therefore is not found in Redder, and this rejection
of claim 1 and, it follows, of dependent claim 2, cannot be
sustained.
The second Section 102 rejection is based upon Ruhe,
which discloses a sealing member for flanged joints. The
examiner considers metal collar 2 and outer ring 4 to be the
primary sealing members and elastic sealing ring 3 to be the
secondary seal. The examiner admits that collar 2 and ring 4
are not explicitly disclosed as being sealing members but
concludes “they will and do perform a sealing action, thereby
they are seals” (Answer, page 6). Here, again, the examiner
has resorted to speculation in the making of a rejection.
Neither “centering collar portion 2," which is of aluminum,
nor “outer ring 4," which is provided with a gap in its
periphery, are described as performing a sealing function
(column 2). The only element so described is sealing ring 3,
as to which the patent states “the sealing effect is produced
by an elastic or plastic deformation of the seal ring 3"
(column 2, lines 56-58). From our perspective, therefore,
this reference discloses only one sealing element, and thus
fails to anticipate claim 1.
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