Appeal No. 2004-0891
Application No. 09/810,539
any external conduit such that all air and smaller particles of
waste material vent outside the room.” Appellant’s figure 3
shows component 22, which is described on page 4 at line 11, as
an outlet. Figure 3 shows that this outlet does have a length.
In Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition
(2000), the word “conduit” is defined as “a natural or
artificial channel through which something (as a fluid) is
conveyed” or “a pipe, tube, or tile for protecting electric
wires or cables.” In the American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth
Edition (2000), the word “conduit” is defined as “a pipe or
channel for conveying fluids, such as water” or “a tube or duct
for enclosing electric wires or cable”. These definitions do
not define a conduit as having a minimum length. Hence, outlet
22 as depicted in figure 3 can be interpreted as a pipe or
channel, in view of the definitions provided herein. We
appreciate that claim 1 recites “without any external conduit”.
However, claim 1 also recites an air exhaust outlet, and as
depicted in figure 3, this air exhaust outlet 22, has a length,
and we can interpret it as being a pipe of some sort.
In light of the above interpretation of claim 1, we provide
the following.
Figure 13 of Hamrick depicts tubular fitting 116. This
allows for air to be exhausted through a frontal portion of
vacuum cleaner unit 10(. In this way, communication is
established between the air exhaust side of fan motor 30( and the
atmosphere in a corresponding room. Appellant has not
established any patentable difference between this configuration
and their claimed outlet 22. Claim 1 requires that outlet 22
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007