Appeal No. 94-4409
Application 07/958,526
claimed limitation involving the bore hole hostile conditions
which is defined by temperature and divalent ion concentration
?above the infinite days line of Figure 14.? As appellants
note in their Brief at page 12, with the exception of claim 87
which recites hostile conditions to be at temperature of at
least 100EF and a salinity of at least 10g/kg solution, all
appealed claims recite hostile conditions as defined by
temperature and multivalent ion concentration above the
infinite days line of Figure 14. Appellants further point out
and note that this nominally requires a temperature in excess
of 160EF. Appellants argue that Uhl fails to make obvious the
process of forming a drilling fluid containing the defined
polymers and circulating the drilling fluid and the bore hole
during the drilling of a well wherein the fluid is exposed to
the ?hostile conditions? as defined in the claims. We disagree
with appellants’ assessment of the teachings in Uhl.
Initially, we point out that Uhl describes the polymers
of his invention as having excellent calcium tolerance
(multivalent ion concentration) and excellent thermal
stability compared with commercial fluid additives. See the
reference at column 1, lines 16 through 18. Uhl further
8
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