Appeal No. 96-1118
Application 07/995,229
record that the combined teachings of Adaurov et al. and Wentorf, Jr. et al. would have motivated one
of ordinary skill in this art to utilize a mixture of graphite and hexagonal boron nitride (HBN) in an
apparatus utilizing a reaction chamber in combination with carbide punches and electrical resistance
heating with the reasonable expectation of obtaining the cubic boron nitride (CBN) product specified in
appealed claim 1. As pointed out by appellants, the process of Adaurov et al. is indeed different from
the process of Wentorf, Jr. et al. We find that the process of Adaurov et al. uses explosive power
generated by detonating an explosive charge containing HBN and/or graphite within a reusable reaction
chamber to provide the pressure and temperature to transform HBN into, inter alia, CBN, that has a
particle size of between 0.05-5.0 microns (e.g., col. 7, line 41), while the process of Wentorf, Jr. et al.,
which utilizes an apparatus falling within appealed claim 1 to generate the pressure and temperature to
transform HBN in the presence of at least one specified catalyst to CBN, which can have a particle size
of 0.2-0.4 mm (e.g., col. 11, lines 37-39). The examiner has failed to advance any evidence or
scientific reasoning explaining why one of ordinary skill in this art would find the motivation in a process
which generates relatively small particle size CBN via explosive power to use a mixture of graphite and
HBN taught therein in a distinctly different process which generates much larger particle size CBN.
Indeed, such an explanation is not found in the contention that these different processes are equivalent
simply because each generates the necessary pressure and temperature to form CBN from HBN
(answer, page 3). Thus, it is manifest that the only direction to appellants’ claimed invention as a whole
on the record before us is supplied by appellants’ own specification. Fine, supra; Dow Chemical,
supra.
- 3 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007