Appeal No. 1996-3162
Application 08/227,897
The air which is added to the primary
oxidation chamber 400 through the annular
air distributor 409 appears to repeatedly
flow up and down through the mass of feed
material M in the primary oxidation chamber
400, as is illustrated by the arrows A and
B in Figure 5, this continuous
recirculation of air, which progressively
changes in composition to the gaseous
oxidized feed material, being facilitated
by the hemispherical shape of the dome 404
of the primary oxidation chamber 400.
They further disclose that the recirculating effect may be
enhanced by the use of vertical flutes 413 in the chamber wall
(page 10, lines 16 to 20). At the same time, the incompletely
oxidized gaseous effluent passes from chamber 400 through duct
412 to secondary oxidation chamber 600 (page 9, lines 15 to
22; page 11, lines 1 to 3).
The examiner interprets the claim 1 language in
question as calling for the establishment of "a split flow of
gaseous effluent with one portion repeatedly recirculating and
another further portion directed in an outward direction"
(answer, page 7). Thus, as claimed, according to the
examiner, one portion of the effluent recirculates, apparently
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