Appeal No. 1999-0944
Application No. 08/890,252
“onto” as appears in original patent claims 1-3 and throughout
the specification are almost mutually exclusive , it appears8
that appellants are using the word “inserting” in a way that
does not comport with its plain meaning. Precisely what that
meaning may be, however, is not apparent from the disclosure.
Moreover, changing the wording of claims 1-3 from inserting
the leading-edge sheath onto the blade subassembly to
inserting the leading-edge sheath in combination with the
blade subassembly only serves to further obscure what
appellants may intend the words “insertion” (claim 1, line 19;
claim 3, line 16), “insert” (claim 1, line 27), and “inserted”
(claim 2, line 2) to mean. Accordingly, the examiner should
(1) consider whether one of ordinary skill in the art can
readily and accurately determine the meaning and scope of the
claimed apparatus for inserting the
spread-apart leading-edge sheath in combination with the blade
subassembly , and (2) if not, enter a new rejection of reissue
8For example, the verb “insert” may mean “[t]o put or set into,
between, or among,” whereas the preposition “onto” may mean "[o]n top of:
upon.” Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, copyright © 1984 by
Houghton Mifflin Company.
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