Appeal No. 2000-2267
Application No. 08/764,576
the description requirement of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C.
§ 112 is to ensure that the inventor has possession, as of the
filing date of the application relied on, of the specific subject
matter later claimed by him. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 262,
191 USPQ 90, 96 (CCPA 1976).
According to the Examiner (Answer, page 9), the
specification lacks a description of how the air turbine 17 will
drive the output shaft 31 and the generator shaft 27 since the
air turbine is mounted to the generator housing. We agree with
Appellants (Brief, page 6), however, that the Examiner’s position
is based on the incorrect assumption that since the turbine,
housing, and turbine shaft are integral, the turbine shaft cannot
rotate the generator shaft. We have reviewed the Mohan, Mommsen,
D’Amato, and Reeves references cited by the Examiner to support
the assertion of lack of written description. We find nothing in
these references, however, which would overcome Appellants’
compelling arguments that the skilled artisan, on reading
Appellants’ description of the structure and operation of the
turbine 17, generator 27, and associated coupling
interconnections at pages 3-5 of the specification, would
recognize that air turbines routinely include a rotatable turbine
shaft mounted in a housing which does not rotate with the shaft.
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