Appeal No. 1997-3121
Application 07/987,048
This amendment cancelled claims 1 and 12 and resulted in an
indication by the examiner that claims 6 and 7 were directed to
allowable subject matter. Accordingly, this appeal is directed
to claims 2-5, 8-11 and 13-15 which are the only claims still
rejected by the examiner.
The invention pertains to a heating element for removing
snow and ice from the windshield of an automotive vehicle. The
heating element is disposed on the windshield of the vehicle. An
ambient temperature sensor determines the temperature of the
ambient air outside the vehicle, and the heating element is
prevented from operating when the ambient air temperature exceeds
some predetermined value.
Representative claim 5 is reproduced as follows:
5. An automotive vehicle having a passenger compartment
with window glass that separates the inside of the passenger
compartment from the outside environment, an electric heating
element disposed on said window glass for heating the same by
means of electric power, an electric power source for providing
electric power, and a control circuit for controlling the
delivery of electric power from said electric power source to
said electric heating element, characterized in that said control
circuit comprises selectively operable conducting means connected
between said electric power source and said electric heating
element, and means for operating said selectively operable
conducting means comprising an on-off switch means that is
accessible to an operator of the vehicle, a temperature sensing
switch means that is disposed in non-thermal sensing relationship
to said electric heating element to reliably sense temperature
indicative of the ambient temperature of the outside environment,
and means operatively relating said on-off switch means and said
2
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