Appeal No. 2006-2629
Application No. 09/887,066
properties at the source (col. 4, lines 39-52). The drilling mud
is collected and delivered to a degassing device (23) through,
respectively, flexible tubes 28 and 22, the compositions of which
are not disclosed (col. 5, lines 47-55).
Cheney discloses a dual layer hose that has a fluoropolymer
inner layer and is useful as a fuel line or a vapor recovery line
in a motor vehicle (col. 1, lines 9-11). The preferred
fluoropolymer is made of vinylidene fluoride, hexafluoropropene
and tetrafluoroethylene (col. 5, lines 49-52). Cheney teaches
that it is important that fuel and vapor return lines be
essentially impervious to permeation of hydrocarbons (col. 1,
lines 25-28).
The examiner argues that “[i]t would have been obvious to
one having an ordinary skill in the art at the time of the
invention to modify Issenmann to include the elongated fuel and
vapor tube of Cheney because of the increased retention time of
the hydrocarbons in the tubing during the transporting to the
analyzer or the measurement means and to limit retention of trace
hydrocarbons so that the samples can be analyzed in there [sic]
purest form when transported from the degassing apparatus”
(answer, page 5). For a disclosure of limiting retention time of
hydrocarbons the examiner relies upon Cheney’s column 1, lines
3
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