Appeal No. 2003-0192
Application No. 08/871,300
application labeled as "Prior Art," appellant makes the following
comments:
Another currently available guide rail clamp consists
of separate top and bottom clamp halves, fastened
together by a pair of bolts. Such guide rail clamp
devices have a main rectangular bore extending
therethrough in orthogonal relation to the axis of the
clamp grips. The rectangular bore is adapted to
receive a flat support bar. The height of the clamp
may be adjusted by sliding the clamp relative to the
flat, rectangular support bar. This prior art clamp,
however, is limited to receiving only flat support
bars, and is not capable of receiving cylindrical
support rods. Thus, these prior art rail clamps can
not be used in conjunction with cross-blocks or in
other applications where cylindrical support rods are
used.
In solving the above noted problem, appellant has provided a
slot (46 in Figs. 2-4) extending through the clamp halves (42,
44) which is configured to receive support bars that may be flat,
cylindrical, or semi-cylindrical (spec., page 7). As can be
discerned from viewing Figures 2 through 4, the slot (46)
includes a centrally located cylindrical slot section (48)
wherein the diameter of the slot cylindrical section is greater
than the width of the remaining portion of the slot, but less
than the length of the slot.
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