Appeal No. 1998-2133
Application No. 08/448,585
In our opinion, the secondary references relied upon by
the examiner to show the use of a plurality of mixers in
series do not give rise to a prima facie case of obviousness
since they are not particularly pertinent to the very specific
problem faced by appellant. Namely, the problem of
insufficient mixing apparently arises in a very specific
context, i.e., using a particular type of mixer, a fluidizing
mixer, for ozone bleaching of medium consistency pulp where
large bubbles of ozone form in the mixer.
Oldshue apparently does not relate to the use of a
fluidizing mixer, nor is that reference particularly concerned
with medium consistency pulp. While Richter (Figure 3)
suggests using a plurality of fluidizing mixers directly
connected in series, Richter does not suggest that the
treatment fluid or bleaching agent be added only into the
first mixer in the series.
Bosenius feeds a different bleaching agent into each of a
plurality of fluidizing mixers. Accordingly, Bosenius does
not relate to the problem addressed by appellant since, in
Bosenius, the ozone requirement is apparently reduced by using
additional bleaching agents. Further, as we construe
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