Appeal No. 1999-1960
Application No. 09/075,631
Appellant’s invention pertains to “a solenoid operated
condensate drain valve operating in real-time response to the
presence of an electrically conductive media in the interior
chamber of the condensate drain valve” (specification, page
5). A further understanding of the invention can be derived
from a reading of exemplary claim 10, which is reproduced in
the appendix to appellant’s brief.
The single reference relied upon by the examiner as
evidence of obviousness is:
Frantz et al. (Frantz) 4,336,821 Jun. 29,
1982 Claims 20-29 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second paragraph, as being indefinite.
Claims 20-29 stand further rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as being unpatentable over Frantz.
Reference is made to appellant’s main and reply briefs
(Paper Nos. 12 and 14) and to the examiner’s answer (Paper No.
13) for the respective positions of appellant and the examiner
regarding the merits of these rejections. In addition,
appellant relies upon declarations by H. Worth Love and
Alexander Lucitti in support of appellant’s position that the
appealed claims are patentable over the Frantz reference.
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