Appeal No. 2003-1725
Application No. 09/357,645 Page 19
configuration having a substantially linear axis or a force to
disrupt column stability of an occluding member (claim 28). The
mere assertion of the examiner is not enough.
Accordingly, we reverse the examiner’s § 103(a) rejection of
claims 20, 21 and 28, on this record.
Claims 22 and 23
Claim 22 requires an occluder including an occluding member
and “a force actuator constructed and positioned to apply a force
to the occluding member in a direction having a component
parallel to a longitudinal axis of the collapsible tube to bend
the collapsible tube.”
The examiner basically maintains that the bladder (force
actuator) of Payne would apply a force having a component that is
parallel to the tube axis since the fluid pressure introduced to
expand the bladder would have force components in essentially all
directions in that the pressurizing fluid would push the bladder
in every direction.
Appellants (reply brief, page 17) agree with the examiner in
so far as acknowledging that:
upon the introduction of air into the bladders of
Payne, the force generated within the bladders tending
to expand them will be isotropic and will act on the
inner surface of the bladder in all directions.
Indeed, upon introducing air into the bladders of the
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