Appeal No. 2002-2159 Page 5
Application No. 09/652,969
Iwata discloses a removal system for a workpiece having an overlying material
comprising a suction nozzle (4) having a suction port (6) for removing coating material
from the edge parts of the workpiece along with a diluent chemical that has been
sprayed onto the coating to facilitate its removal (columns 1 and 2). Positioned within
the suction nozzle is a cleaning liquid nozzle (jetted outlet 5) through which a diluent
chemical may be injected. Nozzle 5 is “offset from the longitudinal axis of the nozzle [4]
and forms an angle of 30° to 85° with respect to the longitudinal axis of the nozzle”
(column 1, line 66 et seq.). Thus, it is our view that nozzle 5 is “configured to dispense
a chemical toward said workpiece,” as required by claim 38, even though the reference
attaches importance to the fact that the orientation of the nozzle creates an eddy
stream in the vacuum nozzle so as to clean it during operation. We therefore find the
appellant’s first argument not to be persuasive.2
However, we agree with the appellant that there is no evidence in the two
references to support the examiner’s position that one of ordinary skill in the art would
have been motivated to provide the Iwata system with means for moving the suction
nozzle and the applicator nozzle commensurately in order to provide ease of loading
2We note in passing that since no other means for placing cleaning fluid on the workpiece is
disclosed, it would appear that the cleaning fluid dispensed from nozzle 5 also impinges upon the
workpiece. We base this opinion upon the explanation in column 1 that the invention is an improvement
upon prior art nozzles in which a single nozzle element both applies cleaning fluid and removes cleaning
fluid along with the material constituting the lateral edge bead (column 1, line 24 et seq.), and that
evacuating ports 10 and 10' of the inventive system “are used to remove the lateral edge bead portions
after dilution, together with the cleaning fluid from the coated layer” (column 2, lines 34-38).
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