Ex parte CHIAPPE et al. - Page 12




          Appeal No. 97-1754                                                          
          Application 08/462,133                                                      



          lack of a strict antecedent.  Finally, as to the examiner’s                 
          contention that lines 9 and 37 of claim 3 are confusing,                    
          appellants have not disputed the examiner’s position in this                
          regard.  Rather, appellants merely state on page 1 of the                   
          reply brief that typographical errors appear in these lines,                
          and that correction thereof would render the meaning of the                 
          claim clear.  Since appellants have not disputed the                        
          examiner’s position with respect to lines 9 and 37, we will                 
          summarily sustain the examiner’s position that the meaning of               
          lines 9 and 37 in claim 3 is not clear.                                     
               We now turn our attention to our own difficulties in                   
          understanding the meaning of claims 2 and 3.  Considering                   
          first claim 2, lines 19-23 set forth “article group transfer                
          means                                                                       
          . . . for advancement downstream” and lines 23-28 set forth                 
          “means for transferring . . . to said outbound accumulator                  
          means.”  In that the disclosed reciprocating transfer head 24               
          appears to perform both the function called for in the                      
          “article group transfer means” limitation and the function                  
          called for in the “means for transferring” limitation, it is                

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