Appeal No. 1998-1454 Page 8
Application No. 08/422,840
modifier "substantially" in the context of claims 12 and 13,
we think, was intended to allow for irregular deviations from
a perfectly perpendicular orientation and not to broaden the
scope of "perpendicular" to encompass orientations of the
second handle member relative to the first handle member which
are distinctly not perpendicular by design. Arvin Industries,
Inc. v. Berns Air King Corp., 525 F.2d 182, 185, 188 USPQ 49,
51 (7th Cir. 1975). See also Amhil Enterprises, Ltd. v. Wawa,
Inc., 81 F.3d 1554, 1562, 38 USPQ2d 1471, 1476 (Fed. Cir.
1996) (In view of specification, prosecution history, and
prior art, "substantially vertical face" in the patent's claim
must be construed as the same as or very close to "vertical
face."). Therefore, we do not agree with the examiner that
"substantially perpendicularly" renders the claims indefinite.
The examiner also finds terms such as "engageable,"
"crankable," "rotatable" and "movable" vague and indefinite
"in the sense that things which may be done are not required
to be done." While we agree with the examiner that these
terms are directed to actions which may be done but are not
required to be done, it is not apparent to us why this
attribute renders these terms indefinite. These terms do
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