Appeal No. 1996-3808 Page 5
Application No. 08/213,832
Our construction of the subject matter as defined by
appellants’ claims 3 is that the phrase “metering further
initiator” does not preclude the presence of additional
components such as ethylene, alkenoic acid or esters thereof in
addition to the initiator. Accordingly, a disclosure by
Metzger of the addition of initiator, ethylene and other
monomers to a second zone is sufficient to satisfy the
requirements of appellants claimed subject matter supra. See
Metzger column 3, lines 38 - 55. Metzger discloses therein that
the mainstream of a gaseous mixture of ethylene, C - C alkene1 3
carboxylic acid and initiator are fed into the reactor.
Thereafter,
“[T]he mainstream is passed in at the beginning of the
reactor, and the sidestream is fed into the reactor in a
conventional manner in the region of the second point, at
which the temperature reaches a maximum.”
Based upon the above considerations, we conclude that Metzger
discloses metering initiator to the beginning of a second
reaction zone.
As to appellants’ requirement in the claimed subject
matter that the initiator is inserted after the temperature had
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