Appeal No. 1996-1185
Application No. 08/063,985
suffer thermal breakdown when granulated by conventional
processes. See the brief at page 3 and the specification at
page 9, lines 25-28. In contrast, prior art processes
described
in appellants’ specification (page 1, lines 13-27) form dust-
free granules by mixing a solid bleach component with a
hydrate-forming inorganic compound such as sodium sulfate at a
temperature lower than the “transition temperature.”
As evidence of obviousness, the examiner principally
relies on Choy, a reference which teaches a method of forming
a coated bleach granule by spraying an aqueous solution of
sodium sulfate onto bleach particles in a spray granulator.
Referring to column 1, lines 30-40 of Choy, the examiner
argues in his answer at page 3,
because Choy is silent as to the
temperatures utilized in the
coating process, it would have
been obvious to one having
ordinary skill in the art to have
determined the optimum coating
temperatures through routine
experimentation, otherwise the
skilled artisan would not be able
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