Appeal No. 1998-0305
Application 08/385,110
THE REJECTIONS
The claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
follows: claims 5 and 6 over Ohsol in view of Thomson, and
claims 7-9 over Ohsol in view of Thomson and either Aruga or
Ellis.
OPINION
We reverse the aforementioned rejections. We need to
address only the independent claims, which are claims 5 and 7.
Rejection of claim 5
Ohsol discloses a column for removing residual monomers
from a latex prepared by emulsion polymerization (col. 8,
lines 26-51). The column has upper and lower sections (figure
1), each of which contains perforated trays (2). The column
includes a port (7) at its top for introducing the latex, a
flow down section (6) for flowing latex to lower trays, a
device (8) at the bottom for injecting steam in the upward
direction, and a port (12) in the lowermost section for
discharging treated latex. Ohsol’s column can be operated
under vacuum (col. 5, lines 23-26). The examiner apparently
considers Ohsol’s water spray (11) above the upper tray to be
4
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