Appeal No. 1999-0213 Page 4
Application No. 08/814,550
sections slopes. Argument (2) is likewise more narrowly drawn
than the language of claim 1, since there is no recitation in
the claim that the trays are separate from the unitary body.
However, we do agree with appellant’s argument (3) to the
extent that we do not consider that the “trays” 6, 7, 8, 6',
7', 8' in Vaccaro’s front and rear sections are “beneath the
level of said center section”, as claimed. Words in a claim
are to be given their ordinary and accustomed meaning, unless
it appears that the inventor used them differently. Envirotech
Corp. V. Al George, Inc., 730 F.2d 753, 759, 221 USPQ 473, 477
(Fed. Cir. 1984). In the present case, the bottom of Vaccaro’s
center section (the portion of the carrier box between handle
straps 16) is on the same level as the bottom of the
compartments in the front section and in the rear section,
since the bottoms of all three sections are apparently made of
a single flat piece of material (see Figs. 4 and 5). To
describe the compartments in the front and rear sections as
being “beneath the level of the center section” when their
bottom surfaces are in fact on the same level as the center
section would be to give the quoted language a meaning other
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