Appeal No. 96-1228
Application 08/127,480
adjoining with nothing similar intervening ... c: NEARBY,
CLOSE: not distant ... d: CONTINUOUS, UNBROKEN,
UNINTERRUPTED: touching or connected throughout ...,"
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged)
(G.&C. Merriam Co., 1961). The coating 88' in figure 19
extends into the nozzle hole and is "around said nozzle
hole" because it extends around the circumference of the
hole and is "contiguous to said rear surface" in the sense
that it extends near or close to the rear surface. We do
not find the word "contiguous" used in the specification
and, therefore, attribute no term of art meaning to it.
Figure 14 of Hara teaches that the coating can have a
uniform thickness. Claim 1 elsewhere recites "a nozzle hole
defined by an inner surface which is contiguous from said
front surface of said nozzle plate through which ink passes
as it is ejected from said rear surface toward the front
surface"; however, "contiguous" as used here does not
provide a special meaning for "contiguous to said rear
surface." Because the coating 88' in Hara is considered on
"a portion around said nozzle hole contiguous to said rear
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