Opinion ID: 4556134
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A skirt assembly for reducing ice formation at

Text: an outlet vent tube from the atmospheric pressure chamber of a diaphragm-type gas pressure regula- tor, comprising: a skirt receiver adapted to be operatively connected to said vent tube; a skirt member defining an interior space and hav- ing an upper end opening connecting said vent tube to said interior space and an outwardly flared lower end with an area substantially greater than the area of said upper end opening, said skirt member being operatively connected to said skirt receiver means; and baffle means located in said interior space to underlie said upper end opening and being spaced from the interior walls of said skirt to permit gas flow therearound; Case: 17-1555 Document: 82 Page: 4 Filed: 08/17/2020 4 BENNETT REG. GUARDS, INC. v. ATLANTA GAS LIGHT CO. whereby ice formation tending to block said vent tube is inhibited. Id. at col. 4 ll. 42–57 (emphases added to disputed claim terms). Independent claim 5 similarly recites a “skirt member” and “baffle means,” but further recites a “valve means” and a “skirt receiver means.” Id. at col. 4 l. 64 – col. 6 l. 8. The dependent claims further specify that the skirt member is formed of “a molded plastic material” (claims 2 and 6) that may be “electrically conductive plastic” (claims 3 and 7), and that the lower end opening of the device may be covered by “a screen element” (claims 4 and 8). Id. at col. 4 ll. 58–63, col. 6 ll. 9–14.