Appeal No. 95-0140
Application 08/002,528
the recovered particles are returned “to the bottom end of said
vessel adjacent to and above the spraying means” as set forth in
independent claim 17. However, Ube teaches that recovered fine
particles should be “recycled” and returned to the bottom of the
bed as seed particles (see page 5, lines 48-62, and Fig. 1) for
the self-evident purpose of achieving maximum economy of
operation, and one of ordinary skill in this art would have found
it obvious to return Kono’s recovered fine particles to the
bottom of the fluidized and “reusing” them as seed particles as
taught by Ube in order to achieve this self-evident advantage.
When returning the recovered fine particles to the bottom of the
bed of Kono in accordance with the teachings of Ube (note that
Ube teaches the recovered particles should be returned at a point
just above the perforated bed 15 - see Fig. 1), the point of
return would be both “adjacent to and above the spraying means”
since Kono’s spraying means is located at the very lowermost
portion of the fluidized bed.
The examiner has additionally relied on the admitted prior
or nuclei (see, e.g., column 13, lines 58-69).
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