“In” means “some portion of.”

In addition, three of the many definitions of the word “in” found in contemporaneous general dictionaries include the following: “1. a. Within the bounds or area of . . . b. From the outside to a point within * * * 2. To or toward a destination or goal . . . .” Webster’s II New College Dictionary 557 (Houghton Mifflin Co. 2001, 1999, 1995); see also Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary 616 (Houghton Mifflin 1994) (same). Thus, as the Special Master noted, but only in passing: “The word ‘in’ does not require that something be completely and continuously inside of something else.” Doc. no. 96 (Special Master’s Final Report and Recommendation), at 92 n.57 (emphasissupplied). Instead, it is common to use the word to state that something is contiguous to something else, such as saying that a skylight is “in” the room to which it opens and provides natural illumination.

Accordingly, the construction adopted by this court for the phrases “positioned in a conduit” and “positioned in said conduit,” as each is used in Claim 1 of the gas patents, is: a gas equilibration reservoir positioned with respect to the conduit so as to allow contact between at least some portion of the reservoir (or with the reservoir’s gas-permeable membrane, if one is employed) and at least some portion of the aqueous calibrant fluid within the conduit, such that there can be contact between the fluid in the conduit and the equilibration reservoir to allow for gas exchange to occur when the fluid is brought into contact with or exposed to the reservoir.