Appeal No. 2000-1582
Application 08/697,034
mechanical finish.” Before considering the merits of the
rejection, it is necessary to construe this term.
As held in In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054, 44 USPQ2d
1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997):
the PTO applies to the verbiage of the proposed claims
the broadest reasonable meaning of the words in their
ordinary usage as they would be understood by one of
ordinary skill in the art, taking into account whatever
enlightenment by way of definitions or otherwise that may
be afforded by the written description contained in the
applicant’s specification.
Accordingly, looking to appellant’s specification for
disclosure relative to the term “mechanical finish”, we find
on page 9, lines 18, to page 10, line 8:
The mechanical finishes described herein are based
on American Iron and Steel Institute, Washington D.C.
(AISI) standard finishes for stainless steel. As
defined, mechanical finishes are produced by various
mechanical processes such as hot or cold rolling.
Mirror-bright finishes are commonly produced by cold
rolling on polished rolls or by successive well-known
polishing and buffing operations. Rolled mill finishes
result from the initial forming of a metal, usually by a
rolling process and range in appearance from rough dull
to mirror-bright. . . . A No. 2BA finish is a bright
annealed finish and is a highly reflective finish
obtained by final annealing in a controlled atmosphere
furnace. Final buffing is often employed with the No.
2BA finish. Polished mill finishes are produced by
successive steps of grinding, polishing, and also
buffing. The simpler polished finishes are the No. 3 and
4
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