Appeal No. 1998-2356
Application 08/373,860
invention as set forth in the preamble of the claim. Moreover, we have no idea what the language "at
pole level” is intended to mean, since no pole is shown in the drawings of the application or described in
the specification.
Regarding dependent claim 4, we see no way that the outer ring-shaped collar (20) can be
“locked against the inner and outer collars” as is set forth in lines 5 and 6 of that claim, since such
recitation would seem to require the outer collar to be locked to itself. In addition, the recitation in line
8 of claim 4 of “the openings” lacks a clear antecedent basis. In this regard, we note that the
detachable plug (30) seen in Figure 2 of the drawings seals the openings in the inner and outer ring-
shaped collars (10, 20) and not the openings in the inner and outer envelopes (1, 2) as the claim seems
to imply. As for dependent claims 6 and 7, we find the recitation of “plug means” screwed onto or
clipped onto one of the collars to be indefinite, since we are not sure as to whether the “plug means” is
intended to be the same as or different from the “detachable plug” already set forth in claim 4, from
which claims 6 and 7 depend.
In claim 8, the recitation that the outer envelope “comprises a slightly elastic material” is vague
and indefinite. Regarding claim 9, is the feeder cable required in this claim the same as or in addition to
the feeder cable already set forth in claim 1 on appeal? Moreover, how are the telescopic mast of
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