Appeal No. 1998-1315
Application No. 08/334,751
claims 1, 2, 4 through 9, 11 through 13 and 15 through 18
under 35 U.S.C. §112, first paragraph, and affirming the
examiner’s rejection of claims 1, 5 and 17 under 35 U.S.C. §
103(a) as being
unpatentable over McGoff and Brookman. Therefore, the
decision to the examiner is affirmed-in-part.
In addition to the foregoing, we find it further
necessary to REMAND this application to the examiner to
consider the treatment of claims 1 and 5 through 7, wherein
claims 6 and 7 have previously been deemed to contain
allowable subject matter. US Patent No. 4,573,4643 to Yo
appears to disclose all elements claimed in claims 1 and 5
through 7 including an exclusively dry multi-stage filtering
means for converting atmospheric gases into breathable air
(col. 2, line 58-col. 3, line 33) housed within vessel (11),
an oral/nasal mask (3), the mask having an exhalation valve
(5), and means (9) for retaining the mask tightly on the
user’s mouth and nose regions. Regarding the limitations of
claim 6 in this application, Yo also discloses a housing
member (11) for the multi-stage filtering means having a first
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