Appeal No. 2004-2028
Application No. 09/423,746
silica excluded in claim 1 of the present application in the
composition of Fagiolini ‘835. See pages 11-12. We do not agree.
As indicated by the examiner (Answer, page 8), Regler does not
require that silica be employed in its powder mixture or the powder
mixture of the type described in Fagiolini ‘835. Rather, in lieu of
an optional ingredient, silica gel, Regler teaches employing, inter
alia, activated coke, such as brown coal-health furnace coke
(lignite coke), as a surface active substance. See page 4. Thus,
we concur with the examiner that the combined disclosures of
Fagiolini ‘835 and Regler as a whole would have suggested employing
lignite coke as a surface active substance in the powder composition
of the type described in Fagiolini ‘835.
The appellants appear to argue that the reasons for employing
either lignite coke or magnesium compounds in Regler are different
from those set forth by the appellants. See the Supplemental Brief,
pages 11-12. We do not agree.
First, it is well known that a surface active substance, by
definition, is used for promoting dispersion. In other words,
lignite coke employed as a surface active substance is used to
prevent any caking (opposite to dispersion) of the powder mixture of
the type described in Regler or Fagiolini ‘835. Thus, Regler, like
the appellants, would have suggested using lignite coke as a caking
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