Appeal No. 96-4152
Application 08/177,391
spaced from the inner peripheries of the filter discs 20, but
the specification says nothing about this relationship.
Similarly, while the drawing figures of Bly show resistive
heater elements
24 and 44 as being spaced from the walls of the respective
passages within which they are located, the specification is
silent as to this relationship.
Under these circumstances, the examiner’s position that
Stobbe and/or Bly would have suggested to one of ordinary
skill
in the art that the heater elements of Bloom should be spaced
from the adjacent surfaces of the filtering elements "for
initialing and completing incineration of particulates trapped
on both surfaces of the filter" (answer, page 6) is not well
taken. First, the proposed modification would go against the
clear teachings of Bloom that the heater elements should in
intimate contact with the filtering elements. Second, in the 3
3It is error to consider the references in less than their
entireties, i.e., to disregard disclosures in the references
that diverge from and teach away from the invention at hand.
W. L. Gore and Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d
1540, 1550, 220 USPQ 303, 311 (Fed. Cir. 1983).
10
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