Appeal No. 1999-2544 Page 13
Application No. 08/796,513
drawn through the space between the loosely-nested fibers
(column 4, lines 28-
29). Jackson's heated water is not a heater arranged directly
around the hollow fibers in the water bath, it is the water
bath itself. Also, Jackson's water bath does not perform the
appellant's basic objective of operating all hollow fibers at
the same temperature. It is our opinion that one of ordinary
skill in the art would have understood that Jackson's heated
water would have lost heat as it flows from the fibers nearest
the inlet (21) to the fibers near the outlet (23) such that
all fibers would not operate at the same temperature. In our
view the appellant's description that it is essential that the
heater is arranged directly around the hollow fibers in the
water bath, and that the basic objective is to operate all
fibers at the same temperature, serves to limit the
permissible breadth of the heating means as recited in claim
12. Accordingly, it is our opinion that Jackson does not
perform the function of the heating means of claim 12, and we
will not sustain the examiner's rejection of claim 12.
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