Appeal No. 1996-3162
Application 08/227,897
repeatedly flows in a recirculating upward and downward
direction, whereas in Yamazaki the gaseous effluent simply
flows upward through the material ("remaining combustibles")
on grate 5, downward through the material in retort 3, and
then out through exit 9. Since Yamazaki does not disclose gas
flow wherein the gas repeatedly flows upward and downward, the
method
of claim 1 would not be met even if Boutillier and Yamazaki
were combined as proposed by the examiner.
Secondly, we do not in any event consider the
rejection to be well taken. As appellants point out in their
brief, the gas flow in Boutillier is upward through the
combustible material and then out the top of the retort, while
in Yamazaki air is introduced at the bottom of the furnace,
flows upward through grate 5, down through retort 3, and then
out the bottom of the furnace. The examiner asserts that it
would have been obvious to modify Boutillier's apparatus in
view of Yamazaki's teachings regarding recirculating flow, but
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