Appeal No. 97-1298
Application No. 08/227,158
Prior art cited by the examiner as evidence of obviousness
B. Del Pico:
1. Del Pico describes a polymer latex concentrate obtained from an
emulsion stream (col. 4, lines 21-45) by contacting the stream with an ultrafiltration
membrane to remove water from the stream (col. 1, line 39, through col. 2, line 58; and
Examples 1-3).
2. Del Pico's waste stream is said to be a whitewater emulsion.6
3. Del Pico's polymer latex stream is recycled back over the ultrafiltration
membrane to concentrate the polymer latex (col. 2, lines 21, 42-46; col. 3, lines 44-54; col.
6, lines 9-18; and the Figure).
4. Del Pico's whitewater, i.e., waste streams of less than 1% solids, are
concentrated for mixing with other streams for further concentration to higher levels (col. 4,
lines 29-35).
C. Kuhls:
1. Kuhls describes concentrating a fluorinated polymer dispersion by
contacting the dispersion with an ultrafiltration membrane to remove water therefrom (col.
2, lines 32-51).
2. Kuhls indicates that in a continuous process a "dilute starting
dispersion" may be used (col. 6, lines 9 and 10).
3. Kuhls indicates further that the concentrated fluorinated polymer
dispersion is recycled back to a stock vessel containing the fluorinated polymer dispersion.
See col. 5, lines 38-56; and Figure 2.
6 Specification, p. 5, lines 10-15; and Appellant's August 12, 1996 Brief, p. 4, para. 1.
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