Appeal No. 2001-0968
Application No. 08/894,423
into the mixture of the first sub-stage. (Pages 6-7.) Then, as
a third sub-stage, Werner teaches combining the solid-phase
reaction product of the second-sub-stage with titanium
tetrachloride in "a liquid, inert hydrocarbon." (Page 7.)
Regarding the "liquid, inert hydrocarbon," Werner teaches (page
9):
The liquid, inert hydrocarbon that is to be used
in the preparation of the titanium component can be a
hydrocarbon of the type that is commonly combined with
titanium components for catalyst systems of the
Ziegler-Natta type without causing any damage to the
catalyst system or to its titanium component . Examples
of suitable hydrocarbons are pentanes, hexanes,
benzenes and cyclohexane. [Emphasis added.]
The examiner states: "Although Werner et al. generally teach
the hydrocarbon compound to be the solvent, they do not
particularly point out the hydrocarbon to be aromatic
hydrocarbon, they also fail to teach to use a halogenated
hydrocarbon as the solvent [sic]." (Examiner's answer, page 3.)
In an attempt to account for this perceived difference, the
examiner stated (id. at page 4):
[I]t would have been obvious to a skilled artisan
at the time the invention was made to employ the
aromatic or chlorinated hydrocarbon solvent of Zucchini
et al. ('961), Zucchini et al. ('840), or Banzi et al.
in Werner et al.'s [sic] process to obtain better
solubility of magnesium chloride, thus, resulting more
complete reactions and in the absence of showing of
criticalities and unexpected results.
The examiner's stated position has no merit. We do not find
any teaching or suggestion in the applied prior art that
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