Appeal No. 1999-1758
Application No. 08/787,971
not required to be part of the specification. However, the
question under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph is whether
those having ordinary skill in the art are capable of
ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed subject
matter. Ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claims, one
of ordinary skill in the art has to ascertain the meaning of
the claim language in light of the specification. Therefore
the subject matter, i.e., structure, set forth in the claims
has to be ascertainable from subject matter disclosed in the
specification.
With this as our basis, we look to the specification to
ascertain what structure is being referred to by the phrase
"configured to releasably engage and grip at least two
adjacent or two opposing surfaces of a jaw of a beam clamp."
Appellant sets forth (reply brief, page 3) that one surface of
the jaw is engaged by the rear wall (28) of the adaptor (22)
and that the angular clips (24) engage a vertical rear edge of
the vertical flange portion (30) of the jaw. According to the
appellant (reply brief, page 3), since the angular clip (24)
engages a vertical rear edge of the jaw then the clip (24)
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