Appeal No. 99-0196
Application 08/270,742
chiller system. Claim 1 is representative and reads as
follows:
1. A method of retrofitting a chiller system of the type
having a condenser, cooler, compressor interconnected and
operating on a vapor compression cycle and in which cooling
water is supplied to the condenser and returned to a cooling
tower, said method comprising:
(a) disconnecting the cooling water supply to the
condenser from said cooling tower; and
(b) re-connecting said condenser to a cooling water
supply from an existing in-place water supply dedicated for
another use whereby cooling water is supplied to the condenser
and returned to the water supply.
The item relied upon by the examiner as evidence of
obviousness is:
Lawrence et al. (Lawrence) 4,538,418 Sep. 3, 1985
The item relied upon by the appellants as evidence of
non-obviousness is:
The 37 CFR § 1.132 Declaration of David L. Yoder
filed on May 3, 1996 (Paper No. 9).
Claims 1 through 5, 10 and 11 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Lawrence.
Reference is made to the appellants’ brief (Paper No. 15)
and to the examiner’s answer (Paper No. 16) for the respective
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