Appeal No. 1997-1155 Page 2
Application No. 08/376,199
§ 1.142(b) as being directed to a non-elected invention. No other claims remain pending in this
application.1
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to a respirator (claims 1-14, 16 and 19-26) that has a
compressible press fit filter element (specification, page 1) and a method of replacing a
compressible press fit filter element (claims 27 and 29). An understanding of the invention can
be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 1, which appears in the appendix to the
appellants' brief.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the appealed
claims are:
Gordon 1,499,864 Jul. 1, 1924
Tayebi 4,856,508 Aug. 15, 1989
Forsgren 5,222,488 Jun. 29, 1993
Jeffery et al. (Jeffery) 5,290,502 Mar. 1, 1994
Lehman 5,390,668 Feb. 21, 1995
(filed Jun. 22, 1993)
The following rejections are before us for review.
1. Claims 1-14 and 21-23 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable
over Tayebi in view of Gordon.
A communication from appellants filed May 4, 2000 in further support of the supplemental information1
disclosure statement filed November 1, 1999 has been entered in the application file. However, in the interest of
judicial efficiency, consideration of this communication by the examiner has been held in abeyance pending decision
on this appeal.
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