Appeal No. 1998-0805
Application No. 08/599,508
reference, i.e., all limitations of the claim are found in the
reference. See Kalman v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 713 F.2d 760,
772, 218 USPQ 781, 789 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 465
U.S. 1026 (1984). It is only necessary that the reference
include structure capable of performing the recited function
in order to meet the functional limitations of the claim. See
In re Mott, 557 F.2d 266, 269, 194 USPQ 305, 307 (CCPA 1977).
Claim 1 recites a first chamber having means for
deaggregating a dry powder by vibrating the powder, a first
air flow passageway for separating the deaggregated powder by
size, and a second air flow passageway in which this powder
can be carried to the patient for inhalation. While not
precisely identified in the specification by the language used
in the claim, we understand that the “first air flow
passageway in which the deaggregated powder can be separated
by size” is a passageway through which the deaggregated powder
passes “prior to the introduction into a second air flow
passageway for delivery to a patient” (Brief, page 19). In
the embodiment shown in the appellants’ Figure 3, this would
appear to include at least the unnumbered vertical passageway
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