Appeal No. 1997-1506 Page 10
Application No. 08/442,413
Accordingly, we shall sustain the examiner's rejection of
claim 11 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as lacking
support in the appellants' original disclosure.
The Anticipation Rejection
Rosenbaum discloses a flexible switch wherein a switch
tongue (18) may be switched from a straight-ahead position
(shown in dotted lines in Figure 1) to a branch position
(shown in solid lines in Figure 1) by “any suitable driving
means” (column 3, lines 17 to 19). The switch tongue is fixed
at one end to pivot about a king pin (24). During positioning
in the branch position, the switch tongue is bent about an
abutment block (30). With regard to whether Rosenbaum
anticipates claim 14, the only matter in dispute is whether
the switch tongue is bent “according to a changing radius of
curvature beginning at the first, fixed end with a value of
infinity and at the second end, with a predetermined value.”
[emphasis added]
It is axiomatic that, in proceedings before the PTO,
claims in an application are to be given their broadest
reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification,
and that claim language should be read in light of the
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