Appeal No. 2006-0873
Application No. 10/043,277
The appellants have not separately argued any of the claims on appeal apart
from the other claims. Therefore, in accordance with 37 CFR ' 41.37(c)(1)(vii),
we have selected claim 39 as the representative claim to decide the appeal, with
claims 42, 58 and 61 standing or falling therewith.
Simonetti discloses a vehicle compartment comprising panels, including an
instrument panel 24 provided with an opening 22 therein for receipt of a steering
column 20. A housing 30 for turn signal, windshield wiper and other control
devices is mounted on the jacket 28 of the steering column near the steering wheel.
The opening 22 is large enough to allow for full travel and tilt of the steering
column 20 and a boot 40 is provided to seal and close the space between the
opening 22 and the steering column. The boot 40 is made of a flexible elastomeric
material and is in the form of an annulus with a transverse split 41 so that it can be
opened and closed around the steering column. The boot 40 is U-shaped in cross-
section to provide an annular radially inner wall 42 and an annular radially outer
wall 44. The radially inner wall 42 tightly engages over and forms a seal around
an annular flange 46 of the housing 30 of the steering column. In order to hold the
inner wall of the boot tightly engaged around the annular flange of the housing, the
ends of the inner wall are coupled together by a coupling 48 forming a releasable
connection. The outer wall 44 of the boot at the diametrically opposite side from
the coupling 48 is secured to the instrument panel 24 around the opening 22
throughout a minor extent of its circumference, preferably by integral pins 70
formed on the instrument panel.
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