Appeal No. 1997-0417
Application 08/265,548
Appellants have appealed to the Board from the examiner’s final rejection of claims 18 to 26,
which constitute all of the pending claims in the application before us.
BACKGROUND
The subject matter on appeal is directed to an improved industrial process system and method
for controlling the flow of different materials on corresponding conveyors where the materials are
combined and then heated, and wherein moisture content of the materials is detected by sensors and
employed by the system in order to control the rate of flow of the individual materials (see Brief, pages
2 to 3; specification, pages 1 and 8 to 11). As stated by appellants at pages 1 to 2 of the specification,
such an industrial system and process is most useful in making asphalt paving compositions where
gravel, rocks, and sand are combined into a virgin aggregate and then mixed with liquid asphalt under
heat to form "hot mix." Appellants have recognized that it is useful to frequently detect moisture content
at plural stations corresponding to each of the elements in the mixture (e.g., gravel, rock, sand) and to
use this information to control the flow rate of the individual elements (see specification, page 3). In this
manner, volatile changes in moisture content can be more accurately and quickly detected, and the
process can be corrected (i.e., via control of burner firing rate or material flow rate) in response. In
addition, operator time in obtaining moisture content from samples can be reduced, sampling rate can
be increased, and flow of the virgin aggregate will not have to be interrupted (see specification, pages 3
to 4).
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