Appeal No. 1996-1088
Application 08/251,999
explained why the references would have indicated to one of
ordinary skill in the art that Saito’s system would function
as desired if the voltage applied to the electrolytic cell
were either additionally or alternatively based on the flow
rate, quality and temperature of the water as in Arai’s system
(col. 2, lines 14-21 and 56-62). Thus, the record indicates
that the motivation relied upon by the examiner for combining
the references comes solely from the description of
appellants’ invention in their specification and that,
therefore, the examiner used impermissible hindsight when
rejecting the claims. See W.L. Gore & Associates v. Garlock,
Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1553, 220 USPQ 303, 312-13 (Fed. Cir.
1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984); In re Rothermel, 276
F.2d 393, 396, 125 USPQ 328, 331 (CCPA 1960). Accordingly, we
reverse the rejection of independent claims 1 and 10 and the
claims which depend therefrom.
Independent claims 12 and 13 require “means for detecting
a rate of variation in a mean value of the dc voltage”, and
independent claim 14 requires “means for gradually increasing
an effective level of the dc voltage at a rate” and “means for
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