Appeal No. 1996-2253 Page 4
Application No. 08/199,907
heating and before continuing heating (Brief, page 4; Answer,
page 4).
The process disclosed by Pinnavaia contains no mention of
heating until the chromium salt-base solution reaches a
specified pH level. As pointed out by the appellant,
Pinnavaia relies on time and temperature rather than on pH to
determine when the heating of the solution should end and when
the master batch is properly formed (Brief, page 4). The
claim is a process claim. Differences in the manipulative
steps of the process serve to distinguish the process from the
prior art. The fact that Pinnavaia discloses time and
temperatures overlapping or within the claimed range indicates
that the resulting product might be the same, but it does not,
without more, indicate that the process is suggested. The
examiner has not provided a rationale which would lead us to
believe that pH would be monitored in the process or that
those of ordinary skill in the art understood that a very
acidic pH of about 1.5 to about 2.5 could be used to determine
the end point of a process in which a high pH substance, i.e.
a base, was being added to a salt.
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