Ex parte POTING - Page 7




                   Appeal No. 1999-1408                                                                                               Page 7                        
                   Application No. 08/809/629                                                                                                                       


                            Independent apparatus claim 36 stands rejected on the basis of the combined                                                             
                   teachings of Hofmann and Leweringhaus, and we also will sustain this rejection.  The                                                             
                   Hofmann apparatus produces molded glass bodies in accordance with a molding method                                                               
                   in which a press mold that determines the external shape of the molded glass body, and                                                           
                   into which a predetermined quantity of molten glass can be poured, operates in                                                                   
                   conjunction with a molding plug that determines the internal shape of the molded glass                                                           
                   body.  In the molding operation molten glass held in the mold is pressed against the                                                             
                   molding plug.  The molding plug (97) is mounted on a piston in an air motor cylinder                                                             
                   carried by a bracket (102) that pivots about an axis extending transversely to the center                                                        
                   axis of the molding plug.  After the molten glass has been placed in the mold, the mold plug                                                     
                   is pivotally moved from an initial position outside of the press mold into the operating                                                         
                               4                                                                                                                                    
                   position.   Pressurized air from beneath and vacuum from above cause the molten glass to                                                         
                   be pressed into contact with the plug, thus forming the desired object.  Applying the same                                                       
                   rationale with regard to the term “press-molding” and the phrase “predetermined temporal                                                         
                   dependency on force and feed” that was set forth above in conjunction with method claim                                                          


                            4We note that while the appellant has recited these two elements in means-plus-                                                         
                   function form, he has not argued under the sixth paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112 that the                                                           
                   structure relied upon by the examiner is not the same as that disclosed in his specification                                                     
                   or the equivalent thereof (see Valmont Indus. Inc. v. Reinke Mfg. Co.,                                                                           
                   983 F.2d 1039, 1042, 25 USPQ2d 1451, 1454 (Fed. Cir 1993)), and we therefore                                                                     
                   presume that he concedes this issue.                                                                                                             







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