Appeal No. 2000-1386
Application No. 09/078,477
GROUNDS OF REJECTION
1. Claim 7 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
unpatentable over Huttlin.
2. Claims 7 and 16-19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as unpatentable over Moore in view of Huttlin.
We affirm as to both grounds of rejection
BACKGROUND
The invention relates to an improved process for uniformly
coating particulate granules with a coating material.
Specification, page 2. According to appellants, coatings are
conventionally applied to granular material using spray nozzles.
The drawback of such spray nozzles is that application of the
coating tends to be uneven and may cause clumping of the particles.
Specification, page 5. Appellants have found that
coating components are best applied to . . . granules by
injecting separately and sequentially the plurality of
coating components into a cascading mass of . . .
granules, which are moving continuously through a
horizontal rotating cylindrical drum, immediately below
the surface of the granules through a plurality of
injectors with the flow characteristics of each injector
being separately controlled. The cascading of the
granules is in a controlled pattern which evenly
distributes the injected liquid coating materials.
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007