Appeal No. 96-2810
Application 08/017,086
organic thickener are no longer apparent. The final
glazed article will be indistinguishable from the prior
art glazed article of Norris and is thus anticipated.
Norris typically fires his glazed sanitary ceramic
O O
articles at temperatures in the range of 1000 to 1300 C.
(Norris,
col. 3, l. 21-24). Appellants’ glazes were fired at 1000 toO
1400 C. (Specification (Spec.), p. 6, Example 2). Moreover,O
appellants’ specification teaches that cellulose ether and
xanthan gum thickeners decompose upon firing (Spec., p. 1):
Cellulose ethers and xanthan gums have been used as
thickeners and binders for such sanitary ceramic glazes.
Upon firing, these polysaccharides decompose and form the
glaze glass and metal oxide deposit on the ceramic
article.
We see no clear error in the examiner’s finding that
firing caused the thickeners of the sanitary ceramic articles
sprayed with glaze in accordance with Norris’s teaching and in
accordance with appellants’ teaching both to decompose,
leaving glazed sanitary ceramic articles of identical
composition. The products made by the two processes
reasonably appear to be the same regardless
of the thickeners employed in the respective aqueous glazes.
In our view, the examiner has made out a prima facie case of
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