Appeal No. 1997-1506 Page 11
Application No. 08/442,413
specification as it would be interpreted by one of ordinary
skill in the art. In re Sneed, 710 F.2d 1544, 1548, 218 USPQ
385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1983). Moreover, limitations are not to
be read into the claims from the specification. In re Van
Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 1184, 26 USPQ2d 1057, 1059 (Fed. Cir.
1993) citing In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321, 13 USPQ2d 1320,
1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989).
The broadest reasonable interpretation of “a
predetermined value” encompasses any and all values from zero
to infinity, inclusive, in our opinion. Therefore,6
regardless of the particular value of the radius of curvature
of the switch tongue at the second end (the end abutting the
abutment block 32) in the branch position, the radius of
curvature at that second end has “a predetermined value” as
claimed.
The only remaining issue is whether the radius of
curvature of the switch tongue (18) in the branch position has
a value of infinity (i.e., is straight) at the fixed end
6“Predetermine” is defined as “to determine, decide or decree
beforehand” (Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition (Simon
& Schuster, Inc. 1988)).
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