Appeal No. 2001-2371
Application 09/318,259
contains blow-out openings 4 located over the respective
lengths of the combustion chamber units for releasing the gas
generated therein.
It is not disputed that the filter case 2, the
combination piece 3, the combustion chambers 13, 23, and the
tablet-shaped fuel 15, 25 disclosed by the Japanese reference
respond to the
limitations in claim 7 relating to the cylindrical casing, the
offset partition, the first and second chambers, and the gas
generant, respectively, or that the blow-out openings 4
disclosed by the Japanese reference correspond generally to
the first and second holes recited in claim 7. At issue is
whether the Japanese reference teaches or would have suggested
an inflator having holes positioned as required by the claim.
As indicated above, claim 7 calls for the first holes to be
“formed in the casing only near the partition to communicate
with the first chamber so that when the gas generant in the
first chamber is ignited, a gas is ejected through the first
holes near the partition to inflate the airbag as equal as
possible in the longitudinal direction,” and the second holes
to be
4
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