Appeal No. 2002-0946 Page 2
Application No. 09/590,121
BACKGROUND
The appellants’ invention relates to an oil filter wrench provided with gripping
fingers of the type which do not present jagged edges that may damage the oil filter.
Independent claim 1 is illustrative of the invention and reads as follows1:
1. An oil filter wrench comprising a one piece gripping strap
having an inner and outer surface, said strap being one
uninterrupted piece from said inner to said outer surface,
means for tightening the gripping strap, gripping means
extending inwardly from the one piece gripping strap and
being integral therewith, said gripping means comprising a
plurality of one piece rigid gripping fingers integral and one
piece with and extending inwardly from the inner surface of
the one piece gripping strap, each of said gripping fingers
being substantially round and symmetrical, and each of said
gripping fingers having a substantially smooth and
uninterrupted convex gripping inner surface, each of said
fingers extending from the outer surface to the inner surface
of the strap, each of said gripping fingers comprising a
concave surface extending inwardly from the outer surface
of the strap and a convex surface extending away from the
inner surface of said strap, a plurality of said gripping fingers
being provided on the strap in spaced relationship to each
other, said plurality of said gripping fingers comprising a
cluster of said fingers at spaced intervals around said strap,
each cluster of fingers comprising a plurality of said fingers,
said tightening means comprising the strap having a pair of
end edges with the end edges mounted on a handle at
pivoted points on said handle which are spaced from each
other, said clusters are provided around the strap in
equidistant relationship to each other, each cluster
comprising a plurality of rows of fingers, said rows are
parallel to an edge of the strap and the rows of fingers are
parallel to each other.
1 The copy of claim 1 in the appendix to appellants’ brief contains substantial errors in that it omits
language contained in claim 1 of record.
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