Appeal No. 1998-2011
Application No. 08/707,267
The casing of the heating element disclosed by the German reference comprises a
flexible corrugated hose 3. As illustrated in Figure 3, the corrugations are rounded and do not
include any flat bight portions. Bauchert discloses a variety of cross sectional shapes, including
quadrangular (column 2, lines 31-34) , for electric tubular heaters, but does not disclose the use7
of any corrugations on the casing (jacket tube 1) thereof. Therefore, we fail to see how
Bauchert would have provided any suggestion to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the
corrugations of the German reference so as to comprise pairs of parallel legs extending
transversely of the axis and bight portions which extend flatly (are not rounded) in the axial
direction. Even if Bauchert would have suggested modification of the casing of the German
reference so as to provide it with a square cross-section (as viewed in a direction normal to the
longitudinal axis thereof), we share the appellant's opinion (reply brief, page 1) that there is no
reason why imparting such a square cross section to the structure would require flattening the
bights of the corrugations in a direction other than normal to the axis. While the metes and
bounds of the terminology "substantially parallel" as used in claim 1 are not clearly defined, as
discussed above, flatness in a direction normal to the axis cannot reasonably be construed as
flatness "substantially parallel to the axis" as claimed.
Moreover, claim 1 further recites "each web having a longitudinal width equal to at
most one-fifth the width of the legs." This feature is also not disclosed by the German
7These shapes pertain to the cross section of the tubular heater normal to the longitudinal axis thereof.
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