Appeal No. 1998-0387
Application 08/566,192
to the right of the spray chamber 12, because the term “above”
may mean “in or to a higher place than.” Since Berman’s heat 2
exchanger 14 is at a higher elevation than sprays 22, it is
“above” the sprays as called for by claim 1.
We therefore conclude that claim 1 is unpatentable over
Berman in view of Marchand alone, Hilger being superfluous to
the rejection when the terms of the claim are given their
broadest reasonable interpretation.
The means for eliminating mist recited in claim 2 reads
on demister 20 of Berman. Appellants’ argument that it does
not because Berman mixes the exhaust gases with ambient air
(brief, page 16) is not persuasive, since Berman discloses
that
“remaining water droplets are removed” at demister 20 (col. 3,
lines 70 and 71), and claim 2 does not preclude any subsequent
mixing with ambient air.
On the other hand, we do not consider claim 7 to be
2Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1971).
7
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