Appeal 2007-1204
Application 10/370,869
to the base 10 in Engibarov. Such precise orientation at a given point in time, does
not necessarily imply that the “precise” point at that time is reproducible or “fixed”
at a later time. Appellants’ reliance on the term “precise” in the Specification to
support a narrow meaning of a given fixed position is rejected, because “precise”
only supports the degree of accuracy for values defining “a location,” but does not
mandate a fixed reference location.
In Engibarov then, the user of the tooling apparatus can define “a location”
of the workpiece support feature along any point along the T-shaped slot 12 when
the user clamps the insert 16 to the base 10. This is because the depending corners
39, 43 of the insert 16 in Engibarov act as part of the locating feature to locate the
insert 16 at a precise location along the x, y and z axes. As illustrated below, once
the bolts 70, 72 of the insert 16 are tightened to cause the clamp member 60 to abut
against the shoulder of the T-shape slot 12, the insert lower attachment surface
(ISA) becomes fixed to the base attachment surface 10a by this clamping action.
At this point, the location of the insert 16 is precisely defined by the “location”, X0,
Y0, Zc, where c is the point along the Z axis at which the insert 16 is clamped to the
base 10 and has a given value of the distance measured from the intersection of the
indicated X and Y axes.
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