Appeal No. 95-4762
Application No. 08/086,885
McCabe's process in and of itself is insufficient to teach
appellants' claimed process.
As to the combination of McCabe and British Petroleum,
the examiner in the Final Rejection dated 04/21/94, argues
that British Petroleum "equates" the McCabe catalysts with the
instantly used hydrogen ion clays. See the paragraphs
bridging pages 2 and 3 of the Final Rejection. The examiner
further refers therein to the paragraph bridging pages 1 and 2
of the British Petroleum reference in support of his position.
We disagree. The portion of the British Petroleum reference
relied upon by the examiner discloses that metal cation
exchanged montmorillonites will convert alkenes to the
corresponding bis-sec-alkyl ethers. It thereafter states:
"Although the catalytic activity of a variety of metal cation-
exchanged clays is described, there is no disclosure of a
hydrogen ion-exchanged clay." Our analysis is that this
statement is a mere reflection of the stated prior art. At
best, this disclosure of British Petroleum equates metal
cation exchanged clays with hydrogen ion-exchanged clays as
catalysts for the conversion of alkenes to the corresponding
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