Appeal No. 2004-0030 Page 12
Application No. 09/337,492
From all of the above, we find enablement for the claim
language asserted to be non-enabled by the examiner. We are not
persuaded by the examiner's assertion (answer, page 5) that
“[s]upports 15, being flexible, merely urge frame 11' away from
the board 9 and toward the latch member 5....[B]ecause the
supports 15 are flexible, the first distance H” cannot be
maintained; due to the urging of the supports, upon completion of
the assembly, frame 11' will be pushed against the latching
member 5 and distance H” will always be 0.” From our review of
the specification, we agree with appellant (reply brief, page 5)
that:
The attention of the Board is directed to page 8,
lines 4-7 of the specification, which describes
that the flexible supports 15 merely 'brace'
the switch structure 6 in place by abutting
surface 34 of supports 15 against surface 32
of frame 11'. In this context, 'bracing' does
not indicate 'urging' as asserted by the Examiner.
Rather, the term 'bracing' indicates a supporting
function, as evidenced by Webster’s New Collegiate
Dictionary (1977), page 132, which defines 'bracing'
as 'to furnish or support with a brace' and 'to give
strength'. Furthermore, as stated in the specification,
element 15 is described as 'flexible supports'.
Thus, the supports 15 are 'flexible' as defined in
the specification, which is to say that they are
constructed designed and arranged (see renumbered
Figure 1 and the corresponding description in the
specification) to be movable.
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