Appeal No. 1999-1042 Page 10
Application No. 08/781,220
The appellant’s U.S. Patent No. 5,644,876, upon which the
double patenting rejection is based, resulted from application
Serial Number 08/297,193, filed on August 26, 1994 (hereinafter
“the patent”). This application disclosed two embodiments of
the appellant’s invention. The first embodiment (Figures 1-5)
discloses a four-sided column and maximizes the number of gas
outlets that can be installed at a specified height on the
column by providing a pair of angled outlet support surfaces on
each side panel which are adjacent to one another in
intersecting planes. The second embodiment (Figures 6-9)2
accomplishes a similar objective by utilizing a five-sided
column in which the width of each side panel is only slightly
wider than that of the gas assembly mounted thereon. The
appellant prosecuted to issuance only claims directed
specifically to the first embodiment. The present application
was filed on January 10, 1997 as a Rule 60 continuation of the
first and presented, after entry of a preliminary amendment,
claims directed to the second embodiment.
2While described in the specification as illustrating the
five-sided embodiment of the invention, it appears to us that
Figure 6 shows a four-sided column. However, a five-sided
column clearly is shown in Figures 7-9.
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