the person before whom the oath or affirmation is made in this country is not provided with a seal, his official character shall be established by competent evidence, as by a certificate from a clerk of a court of record or other proper officer having a seal.

(b) When the oath is taken before an officer in a country foreign to the United States, all the application papers, except the drawings, must be attached together and a ribbon passed one or more times through all the sheets of the application, except the drawings, and the ends of said ribbon brought together under the seal before the latter is affixed and impressed, or each sheet must be impressed with the official seal of the officer before whom the oath is taken. If the papers as filed are not properly ribboned or each sheet impressed with the seal, the case will be accepted for examination, but before it is allowed, duplicate papers, prepared in compliance with the foregoing sentence, must be filed.

67. Supplemental oath or declaration for matter not originally claimed. (a) When an applicant presents a claim for matter originally shown or described but not substantially embraced in the statement of invention or claim originally presented, he shall file a supplemental oath or declaration to the effect that the subject matter of the proposed amendment was part of his invention; that he does not know and does not believe that the same was ever known or used before his invention or discovery thereof, or patented or described in any printed publication in any country before his invention or discovery thereof, or more than one year before his application, or in public use or on sale in the United States for more than one year before the date of his application, that said invention has not been patented in any foreign country prior to the date of his application in this country on an application filed by himself or his legal representatives or assigns more than twelve months prior to his application in the United States, and has not been abandoned. Such supplemental oath or declaration should accompany and properly identify the proposed amendment, otherwise the proposed amendment may be refused consideration.

(b) In proper cases the oath or declaration here required may be made on information and belief by an applicant other than inventor. 68. Declaration in lieu of oath. Any document to be filed in the Patent Office and which is required by any law, rule, or other regulation to be under oath may be subscribed to by a written declaration with the exception of testimony relating to interferences and other contested cases covered by rules 271 to 286. Such declaration may be used in lieu of the oath otherwise required, if, and only if, the declarant is on the same document, warned that willful false statements and the like are punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both (18 U.S.C. 1001) and may jeopardize the validity of the application or any patent issuing thereon. The declarant must set forth in the body of the declaration

that all statements made of his own knowledge are true and that all statements made on information and belief are believed to be true. 18 U.S.C. 1001. Statements of entries generally. Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact, or makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations, or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

SPECIFICATION

71. Detailed description and specification of the invention. (a) The specification must include a written description of the invention or discovery and of the manner and process of making and using the same, and is required to be in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which the invention or discovery appertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same.

(b) The specification must set forth the precise invention for which a patent is solicited, in such manner as to distinguish it from other inventions and from what is old. It must describe completely a specific embodiment of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter or improvement invented, and must explain the mode of operation or principle whenever applicable. The best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention must be set forth.

(c) In the case of an improvement, the specification must particularly point out the part or parts of the process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter to which the improvement relates, and the description should be confined to the specific improvement and to such parts as necessarily cooperate with it or as may be necessary to a complete understanding or description of it.

35 U.S.C. 112. Specification. The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.

The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. A claim may be written in independent or dependent form, and if in dependent form, it shall be construed to include all the limitations of the claim incorporated by reference into the dependent claim.

An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.

72. Title and abstract. (a) The title of the invention, which should be as short and specific as possible, should appear as a heading on the first page of the specification, if it does not otherwise appear at the beginning of the application.

(b) A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification must be set forth immediately following the title and preceding the disclosure in a separate paragraph under the heading "Abstract of the Disclosure." The purpose of the abstract is to enable the Patent Office and the public generally to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of the technical disclosure, and the abstract shall not be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.

73. Summary of the invention. A brief summary of the invention indicating its nature and substance, which may include a statement of the object of the invention, should precede the detailed description. Such summary should, when set forth, be commensurate with the invention as claimed and any object recited should be that of the invention as claimed.

74. Reference to drawings. When there are drawings, there shall be a brief description of the several views of the drawings and the detailed description of the invention shall refer to the different views by specifying the numbers of the figures and to the different parts by use of reference letters or numerals (preferably the latter).

75. Claim (s). (a) The specification must conclude with a claim particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention or discovery.

(b) More than one claim may be presented provided they differ substantially from each other and are not unduly multiplied.

(c) When more than one claim is presented, they may be placed in dependent form in which a claim may refer back to and further restrict a single preceding claim. Claims in dependent form shall be construed to include all the limitations of the claim incorporated by reference into the dependent claim.

(d) (1) The claim or claims must conform to the invention as set forth in the remainder of the specification and the terms and phrases used in the claims must find clear support or antecedent basis in the description so that the meaning of the terms in the claims may be ascertainable by reference to the description. (See rule 58 (a).)

(2) See rules 141 to 146 as to claiming different inventions in one application.

(e) Where the nature of the case admits, as in the case of an improvement, any independent claim should contain in the following order, (1) a preamble comprising a general description of all the elements or steps of the claimed combination which are conventional or known, (2) a phrase such as "wherein the improvement comprises," and (3) those elements, steps and/or relationships which constitute

that portion of the claimed combination which the applicant considers as the new or improved portion. (Amended January 1, 1973.) 76. [Revoked July 2, 1971.]

77. Arrangement of application. The following order of arrangement should be observed in framing the application:

(a) Title of the invention; or an introductory portion stating the name, citizenship, and residence of the applicant, and the title of the invention may be used.

(b) Abstract of the disclosure.

(c) Cross-references to related applications, if any.

(d) Brief summary of the invention.

(e) Brief description of the several views of the drawing, if there are drawings.

(f) Detailed description.

(g) Claim or claims.

(h) Signature. (See rule 57.)

(Amended July 2, 1971.)

78. Cross-references to other applications. (a) When an applicant files an application claiming an invention disclosed in a prior filed copending application of the same applicant, the second application must contain or be amended to contain in the first sentence of the specification following the title and abstract a reference to the prior application, identifying it by serial number and filing date and indicating the relationship of the applications, if the benefit of the filing date of the prior application is to be claimed. Cross-references to other related applications may be made when appropriate. (See rule 14(b).)

(b) Where two or more applications filed by the same applicant contain conflicting claims, elimination of such claims from all but one application may be required in the absence of good and sufficient reason for their retention during pendency in more than one application.

(c) Where two or more applications, or an application and a patent naming different inventors and owned by the same party contain conflicting claims, the assignee may be called upon to state which named. inventor is the prior inventor. In addition to making said statement, the assignee may also explain why an interference should be declared or that no conflict exists in fact. (Amended April 30, 1971.)

79. Reservation clauses not permitted. A reservation for a future application of subject matter disclosed but not claimed in a pending application will not be permitted in the pending application, but an application disclosing unclaimed subject matter may contain a reference to a later filed application of the same applicant or owned by a common assignee disclosing and claiming that subject matter.

THE DRAWINGS

81. Drawings required. The applicant for patent is required by statute to furnish a drawing of his invention whenever the nature of the case admits of it; this drawing must be filed with the application. Illustrations facilitating an understanding of the invention (for example, flow sheets in cases of processes, and diagrammatic views) may also be furnished in the same manner as drawings, and may be required by the Office when considered necessary or desirable.

35 U.S.C. 113. Drawings. When the nature of the case admits, the applicant shall furnish a drawing.

82. (Revoked May 28, 1971.)

83. Content of drawing. (a) The drawing must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. However, conventional features disclosed in the description and claims, where their detailed illustration is not essential for a proper understanding of the invention, should be illustrated in the drawing in the form of a graphical drawing symbol or a labeled representation (e.g. a labeled rectangular box).

(b) When the invention consists of an improvement on an old machine the drawing must when possible exhibit, in one or more views, the improved portion itself, disconnected from the old structure, and also in another view, so much only of the old structure as will suffice to show the connection of the invention therewith.

84. Standards for drawings.

(a) Paper and ink. Drawings must be made upon pure white paper of a thickness corresponding to two-ply or three-ply bristolboard. The surface of the paper must be calendered and smooth and of a quality which will permit erasure and correction with India ink. India ink, or its equivalent in quality, must be used for pen drawings to secure perfectly black solid lines. The use of white pigment to cover lines is not acceptable.

(b) Size of sheet and margins. The size of a sheet on which a drawing is made must be exactly 812 by 14 inches. One of the shorter sides of the sheet is regarded as its top. The drawing must include a top margin of 2 inches and bottom and side margins of one-quarter inch from the edges, thereby leaving a "sight" precisely 8 by 113⁄4 inches. Margin border lines are not permitted. All work must be included within the "sight". The sheets may be provided with two 1/4-inch-diameter holes having their centerlines spaced elevensixteenths inch below the top edge and 234 inches apart, said holes being equally spaced from the respective side edges.

(c) Character of lines. All drawings must be made with drafting instruments or by a process which will give them satisfactory reproduction characteristics. Every line and letter must be absolutely black and permanent; the weight of all lines and letters must be heavy