Appeal No. 1999-2245
Application No. 08/705,388
the examiner. As a consequence of our review, we make the
determinations which follow.
The indefiniteness issue
We reverse the rejection of claims 11 and 12 under
35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite.
The examiner has focused upon three aspects of alleged
indefiniteness (answer, pages 4 through 6), which we address
below.
As perceived by the examiner, it is uncertain whether
appellant is claiming the subcombination of a seal per se or a
seal in combination with first and second spools. We
certainly appreciate that the character of the preambles and
body of each of claims 11 and 12 may offer some initial
difficulty in discerning the scope of these claims. Appellant
views the preamble as limiting the claimed seal to a
401 F.2d 825, 826, 159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA 1968).
4
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