Appeal No. 1998-0023
Application 08/470,374
second mixers being “taken generally perpendicular to the
direction of flow through said respective mixers...,” as being
without support in the specification. While the examiner is
correct in observing that appellants’ original specification
does not expressly indicate that the cross-sectional flow
areas of the first and second mixers are “taken generally
perpendicular to the direction of flow through said respective
mixers,” we find that we are in agreement with appellants’
arguments on pages 1 through 3 of the reply brief that these
claims only recite that which one skilled in the art would
have viewed as being apparent (inherent) in the original
disclosure of appellants’ application. Accordingly, it is our
determination that appellants’ disclosure as originally filed
would have reasonably conveyed to the artisan that the
inventors had possession of the now claimed subject matter at
the time of filing of the present application. Thus, the
examiner's rejection of claims 17 through 30 under 35 U.S.C. §
112, first paragraph, as lacking support in the originally
filed disclosure will not be sustained.
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