Appeal No. 2006-1149
Application No. 10/296,406
Cir. 1988).
We find that appellant’s specification, including the drawings, does provide adequate
support for the “spring buckle” recited in claim 20 to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to
make and use the invention without undue experimentation. The recited “spring buckle”
finds support at two places within the specification, infra, in addition to being shown in Fig.
1 as “spring buckle 11.” See the instant specification, as originally filed, at page 2, line 13,
and the substitute specification at page 2, line 8:
The adapter is advantageously secured on the plug-in connector of the fuel
injector by a spring buckle, through which easier connectability to the
counterplug of the electrical line may be achieved.
See also the instant specification, as originally filed, page 4, line 7, and the substitute
specification, page 3, line 30:
As an additional safety measure, adapter 1 may be secured using a spring
buckle 11 or a similar retention device after being plugged into plug-in
connector 4 of the fuel injection, which prevents adapter 1 from slipping out
of plug-in connector 4 and simultaneously makes plugging counterplug 6 into
adapter 1 easier.
We will not sustain the examiner’s rejection of claim 20 under 35 U.S.C. §112, first
paragraph, because the operation of spring buckle 11 is apparent from the drawing, as shown
in Fig. 1. As plug-in connector 4 begins to engage adapter 1, the protruding portion of plug-
in connector 4 engages spring buckle 11 (illustrated as a cross section of a spring ring that
can expand and contract back to its original ring diameter). As the slight angle of the
protruding portion of plug-in connector 4 begins to engage spring buckle 11, it expands the
diameter of circular or oval spring buckle 11. This expansion of the diameter of spring
-4-
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007