Appeal No. 2001-2363
Application 09/073,022
true, is of no moment, since the arrangement as shown in Figures
9A-9C of appellant’s application is not what the broad recitation
in claim 29 requires. Claim 29 merely recites a stretchable
membrane spanning the exit position of the bore in the stopper,
this is exactly what the stretchable bellows (80) does in the
stopper or link body (18 or 58) seen in Figure 8 of Brony,
wherein the bellows (80) spans the upper end of passageway (74)
at the exit position of the bore in the stopper.
Based on the foregoing, we will sustain the examiner’s
rejection of claims 21, 22, 24 and 27 through 29 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(b) as being anticipated by Brony.
Claim 23 modifies the method as set forth in claim 21 by
additionally requiring the step of “frangibly connecting said
plug to said bore.” As can be seen in Figures 6C, 6F and 7A of
the present application, such frangible connection is in the form
of a circumferential connection (311) between the plug (300) and
the stopper (200), which connection must be broken or severed
before the plug can be depressed into the bore (220) of the
stopper (e.g., as in Fig. 7B). The examiner’s position regarding
this limitation (supplemental answer, page 7) is completely
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