Appeal No. 1999-1480
Application No. 08/523,330
“thermoexpansively bonded” and “permanently bonded” to the
key.
In this particular instance, after considering
appellant’s disclosure as a whole, we have determined that
appellant fails to describe a bond between a key and the
spheroidal handle wherein the handle is “permanently bonded”
to the end of a key as required by claims 63 and 66. We
construe “permanently bonded” as used in these claims to
require a connection between two elements that is intended to
last indefinitely without change and which can only be
separated by destroying at least a portion of one of the
bonded elements. We also understand, from page 5, lines 21-
28, of appellant’s disclosure, that a “thermoexpansive bond”
like that set forth in claim 66 is one which allows “easier
insertion of a key when the handle is cooled as in the freezer
compartment of a common refrigerator, but... [provides]
increased clamping or retention force when the handle assembly
is allowed to return to room temperature.”
It is clear from the foregoing that a “thermoexpansive
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