Appeal No. 2003-0083 3
Application No. 09/691,532
comprising a steel end plug 28 having a vent hole 30, and a flat round magnet 34 having
an aperture 36 positioned in the end plug. As can be discerned from Figure 2, the end
plug and magnet assembly are located in a recess 32 opening to the interior of axle 22. In
an alternative embodiment (see Figure 4),
the entire axle end plug 28 is comprised of a magnetic material, the flat
round magnet is not employed. The axle end plug also includes a vent hole
30 located substantially in the center of the axle end plug 28 to allow the
cavity 18 of the axle wheel end 10 to vent to the interior of the axle 22.
[Specification, page 5.]
Representative claims 1 and 7 read as follows:
1. A debris extractor for use with an axle wheel end comprising:
an axle end plug for insertion into an end of an axle, said axle end
plug including a first aperture of a first diameter; and
a magnetic portion.
7. The debris extractor as recited in claim 1 wherein said axle end plug
is comprised of said magnetic portion.
Independent claim 9 is similar to claim 1 with the added feature of the debris
extractor being claimed in combination with an axle wheel end. Claim 15 depends from
claim 9 and is similar to claim 9.
In rejecting claims 7 and 15 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, the
examiner takes the following position:
. . . [I]t is believed that [dependent] claims 7 and 15 limit the axle end plug to
being comprised of a single element, while the independent claims from
which claims 7 and 15 depend (claims 1 and 9) set forth the debris extractor
as comprising two elements: an axle end plug and a magnet portion. This is
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