Appeal No. 98-2118
Application No. 08/459,986
There is, however, no evidence of record to support the
appellants' contention that the pitch of Elvekjaer can "only
be interpreted" as having a quantity which decreases with a
decreasing radius. To the contrary, Elvekjaer only5
illustrates and describes a single pitch value, as opposed to
a varying value (see, e.g., Fig. 2, column 2, line 49).
Moreover, even if there is a small variance in pitch as the
radius decreases due to the fact that successive vanes are
generally radially disposed, the appellants' specification
provides no particular guidelines for determining or measuring
the amount of deviation permitted by the recitation of
"generally." Accordingly, giving this term its broadest
reasonable interpretation (see In re Morris, supra, and In re
Zeltz, supra), the chords resulting from Elvekjaer's ratios
can still be considered to be "generally" increasing and
"generally" constant as claimed.
5Counsel's arguments in the brief cannot take the place
of evidence. See In re De Blauwe, 736 F.2d 699, 705, 222 USPQ
191, 196 (Fed. Cir. 1984), In re Payne, 606 F.2d 303, 315, 203
USPQ 245, 256 (CCPA 1979) and In re Pearson, 494 F.2d 1399,
1405, 181 USPQ 641, 646 (CCPA 1974).
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