Appeal No. 1995-3349 Page 5
Application No. 08/066,994
the cleaning of the workpieces by removing oil and other soil
therefrom (column 1, lines 5-10 and column 2, lines 35-54).
Shibano teaches the cleaning liquid may be selected from among
a small group of listed materials including water (column 8,
lines 22-28, column 9, lines 40-44, and column 11, lines 43-
47). Moreover, Shibano indicates that the cleaning liquid may
be heated to about 47°C in a heater (column 8, lines 64-68).
Each of Young and Zucker also teach degassing (deaerating) an
aqueous cleaning solution via application of a vacuum to
enhance cavitation and cleaning of objects that are immersed in
the cleaning solution that is ultrasonically vibrated.
The examiner acknowledges that Shibano does not disclose
the specifically claimed cleaning liquid dissolved oxygen
contents (answer, page 4). According to the examiner, however,
it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art
to arrive at the claimed cleaning process including the claimed
dissolved oxygen contents from the combined references'
teachings which clearly suggest deaerating the cleaning liquid
is advantageous in enhancing cavitation in the cleaning fluid
bath and the cleaning of the objects immersed therein.
Implicit in the examiner's rejection is the notion that one
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