Appeal No. 1996-1877
Application No. 08/149,716
1990, she was unaware of any manufacturer which had sold or
was selling a static headspace sampler which included a built-
in mixing or agitation device which agitated the sample vial
while being disposed in a heated rotatable platen. Ms. Penton
also stated that experimental results, comparing a method of
preparing a volatile sample that included heating and vial
agitation to a method that did not include both, indicated
that the method of
agitation substantially shortened the equilibrium time while
improving the precision and sensitivity of the gas
chromatographic analysis.
Gregory G. O’Neil stated that he prepared a paper
entitled “Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds in Soil Using
Static Headspace Extraction”(Exhibit Q). The paper includes
initial test results measuring volatile aromatic compounds in
soil samples in aqueous solution, with and without “mixing”
(agitation). Mr. O’Neil concludes that Exhibit Q was the
first to announce the possibility of obtaining reliable
concentration measurements of volatile organic compounds in
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