Ex parte STRAHM et al. - Page 3




                 Appeal No. 2000-1060                                                                                                                   
                 Application No. 09/030,378                                                                                                             


                 use only a small air jet angle as shown in Aindow’s figure 5                                                                           
                 (item 152), and would not use an angle of 30-80º as recited in                                                                         
                 the appellants’ claim 6.                                                                                                               
                          Specifically, the appellants argue that the fact that                                                                         
                 Aindow’s rollers are round rather than elliptical indicates that                                                                       
                 Aindow’s drawings are at least roughly proportional, horizontal-                                                                       
                 to-vertical (request, page 3).   Round circles, however, are what1                                                                                
                 are drawn using a draftsman’s compass or template.  The fact that                                                                      
                 the circles are round does not mean that the components of the                                                                         
                 apparatus, the distances between components, or the angle of the                                                                       
                 air jet with respect to the web surface, are drawn to scale.                                                                           
                 Aindow does not disclose the air jet angle in the specification,                                                                       
                 and “[a]bsent any written description in the specification of                                                                          
                 quantitative values, arguments based on measurement of a drawing                                                                       
                 are of little value.”  In re Wright, 569 F.2d 1124, 1127, 193                                                                          
                 USPQ 332, 335 (CCPA 1977).  In Wright, wherein a reference did                                                                         
                 not disclose that the drawings are to scale, the court rejected                                                                        
                 the solicitor’s argument that the reference pointed to a distance                                                                      


                          1The appellants also argue generally that most drawings                                                                       
                 are at least roughly proportional, horizontal-to-vertical                                                                              
                 (reply, page 3), but provide no support for this argument.                                                                             
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