Appeal No. 1998-0316
Application No. 08/355,646
broadest reasonable meaning as they would be understood by one
of ordinary skill in the art, "taking into account whatever
enlightenment by way of definitions or otherwise that may be
afforded by the written description contained in the
applicant's specification." In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048,
1054, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1037 (Fed. Cir. 1997). In appellant's
disclosed apparatus, the mold cavity is formed by cavity 1a in
upper block 1, and cavity 51a in lower block 51. This cavity
does not completely define the final shape of the molded
product, however, because eject pin 54 projects into the
cavity before the plastic solidifies. Thus, as shown in Fig.
7, the cavity in which the molded product solidifies is
defined not by cavities 1a and 51a alone, but by cavity 1a,
cavity 51a, and the projecting portion B of eject pin 54.
Consequently, reading claim 11 in light of appellant's
disclosure, the claim term "mold cavity" must be construed as
including not only the cavity in which the molded product
solidifies, but also the additional portion of the cavity
which will be occupied by the eject pin after it has been
projected into the cavity prior to solidification.
As so construed, we conclude that claim 11 is readable on
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