Appeal No. 2000-0526
Application No. 08/818,958
Each of claims 13 and 14 of the Farris I patent recites a
step of orienting the syringe so that the air (gas) trap
extends generally upwardly so that any gas in said chamber
will be displaced into said chamber. As illustrated in the
tangible embodiment of the method (Figures 3 and 4), the air
trap is at a highest elevation of the syringe in this
orientation of the syringe. It is this position of the air
trap which causes any gas in the container of the syringe to
be displaced into the chamber as set forth in the "orienting"
step of patent claims 13 and 14. Accordingly, the step of
orienting the syringe as recited in claim 2, from which claims
3, 9 and 10 on appeal depend, is met by the method of claims
13 and 14 of the Farris I patent. As for the step of urging
recited in claim 2, this step is also achieved by orienting
the syringe in the manner set forth in claims 13 and 14 of the
Farris I patent, for the reasons discussed above in our
discussion of rejection (1), supra.
In light of the preamble language "injecting liquid from
a plungerless syringe" set forth in claim 13 of the Farris I
patent, one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood
the step of "collapsing said container in a manner such that
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