Appeal No. 2003-1081
Application 08/581,347
thermal conductivities of the various types of Kapton® range from
0.12 to 0.45 W/m.K, which is a factor of almost four.1 Moreover,
in the appellant’s specification, Kapton® (page 10, lines 3-4)
and helium (page 7, line 25) are merely nonlimiting examples.
Thus, the specification indicates that the thermal conductivities
of the seal material and the heat transfer gas do not need to be
as close as those of Kapton® and helium to be closely matched.
In response to a rejection by a previous examiner on the
ground that “substantially uniform heat transfer” is indefinite,2
the appellant argued that in the appellant’s specification,
“substantially” and “uniform” have their customary meanings
which, the appellant argues, are, respectively, “in the nature
of” and “not varying or changing” (amendment filed December 28,
1999, paper no. 14, page 2). Even if “substantially” means “in
the nature of”, the appellant has not established that the
specification provides a standard for measuring the degree
encompassed by that term. The appellant also argued, see id.,
that the specification (page 9, lines 17-27) explains how
1 Copies of the relevant pages from the DuPont website are
provided to the appellant with this decision.
2 This ground of rejection was not maintained by the present
examiner.
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