Appeal No. 95-2347 Page 10
Application No. 07/928,642
for circulating a cooling medium to control the gas
manifold/electrode temperature.
In our view, the provision of passageways for circulating
a cooling fluid in the gas manifold/electrode (12) of Shibata
would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to
prevent excess temperatures from developing in the
electrode/gas manifold of Shibata. Moreover, we agree with
the examiner's conclusions (answer, pages 5-7), for reasons
similar to those discussed above with regard to the rejection
over Chen, that the claimed functional use limitations
regarding the relative temperatures of the gas manifold
surfaces do not serve to patentably distinguish the underlying
claimed structure from that of the applied prior art. Thus,
based on the present record, we agree with the examiner's
conclusion that the claimed apparatus would have been obvious
to one of ordinary skill in the art from the combined
reference teachings.
Appellants argue that the reference (Shibata) "does not
disclose any non-plasma reactor at all" (brief, page 7). We
find this argument unconvincing. We note that Shibata
discloses use of a plasma generation means (10) in reaction
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