UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICEREGISTRATION EXAMINATIONAUGUST 1998AFTERNOON SESSION
1of 49
Dr. John Doe, an electrical engineer, was employed by the General Automotive Company, (GAC), to do research on ignition distribution systems for internal combustion engines. In the course of such research, Dr. Doe took a number of samples of rigid metallic manifold casings, and filled them with a variety of yieldable, non-moldable unitary solids having various dielectric properties. After testing many materials including the reaction products of polymerized walnut-shell oil and formaldehyde, and comparing their radio shielding properties, none of which worked, Dr. Doe concentrated his research on what theoretically appeared to be the most promising materials, specifically, the reaction products of polymerized nut-shell oil and formaldehyde. Included in Dr. Doe's subsequent tests were the polymerized oils from the shells of walnuts, peanuts, chestnuts, almonds, and cashews only. In the case of the cashews, Dr. Doe discovered that the dielectric property of the resulting reaction products were such that when utilized in harnesses designed for ignition distribution systems of internal combustion engines the radio shielding property proved outstanding. As patent counsel for GAC, you prepared and filed in the PTO a patent application disclosing the results of Dr. Doe's research including his test data. The application as filed includes a single claim which begins with the following language:
A radio-shielding harness for the ignition distribution system of an internal combustion engine, comprising a rigid metallic manifold casing for enclosing and shielding a plurality of ignition conductors, and....
Which of the following phrases, each of which is described by the specification, when added to the end of the recited claim language is least likely to be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112?