Appeal No. 96-3376
Application 08/164,889
frustum would have been a matter of design choice to one of
ordinary skill in the art and thus does not serve to patentably
distinguish the claimed invention over the prior art. In further
support of this position, the examiner notes that appellants'
own specification (page 3, lines 16-18) establishes that one of
ordinary skill in the art would have understood rings of such
cross sectional shapes to be of interchangeable character, since
the specification notes that the rings "may have" a cross
sectional shape corresponding to that of a truncated right
circular cone frustum, or "may have a rectangular cross-sectional
shape."
We agree with the examiner's view that it would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make the
cross sectional shape of the rings (13) in Carre Figures 4 and 6
that of a truncated right circular cone frustum as seen in Forbes
and as a known alternative to the rectangular cross sectional
shape seen in Carre so as to ensure a turbulent mixing and
shearing action as recognized in both Carre and Forbes, and to
achieve the increase in mixing capacity noted in Carre column 4,
10
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