Appeal No. 1996-3826
Application 08/222,477
type aqueous fuels falling within the claimed oil-in-water type aqueous fuels encompassed by appealed
claim 1 to one of ordinary skill in this art (Office action of June 1, 1995 (Paper No. 11, page 2);
answer, sequential page 2.5 to page 5). It is well settled that in considering the effect of a reference, we
must consider the specific teachings thereof and the inferences one of ordinary skill in this art would
reasonably be expected to draw therefrom. In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1264-65, 23 USPQ2d
1780, 1782-83 (Fed. Cir. 1992); In re Preda, 401 F.2d 825, 826, 159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA
1968). Thus, the definition of a term or the meaning of a phrase in a reference must be construed within
the context of the reference as interpreted by one of ordinary skill in this art. See In re Salem, 553
F.2d 676, 682-83, 193 USPQ 513, 518 (CCPA 1977). In evaluating the relevance of the various
teachings of the reference, we must presume skill on the part of those of ordinary skill in this art. See In
re Sovish, 769 F.2d 738, 743, 226 USPQ 771, 774 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
We find that Kawaai would have reasonably disclosed a stable, oil-in-water type emulsified fuel
containing “70-85% by weight of water, and alcohol if needed, as a continuous phase,” “15-30% by
weight of liquid oil as a dispersed phase” and “0.001-10% by weight of a surface active agent for the
formation of an oil-in-water emulsion,” that can be spray-combusted in a furnace (pages 2-3; see also
page 4). Kawaai would also have further reasonably disclosed that a similar “an oil-in-water type
emulsified fuel containing 30-70% by weight of water, irrespective of the kind of oil . . . [which] can be
combusted” was also known (page 3). Thus, one of ordinary skill in this art would have reasonably
inferred from Kawaai that stable, oil-in-water type emulsified fuels that contain the ingredients taught in
this reference would be obtained with less than 70 weight percent of water.6
We find that Kawaai teaches that the surfactant can be nonionic and that the stable, oil-in-water
type emulsified fuel can further contain a stabilizer and a neutralizer (pages 4-5). Kawaai would have
6 Kawaai cites Japanese “Patent Application No. 47-108255” with respect to emulsified fuels
containing 30-70% by weight of water. We observe that U.S. Patent No. 5,156,114 to appellant, cited
in the specification, also discloses aqueous fuels containing about 20 to 80 vol.% of water, a mixture of
an alcohol and carbonaceous fuels, and optionally a surfactant (e.g., cols. 1-4 and 11-13). We suggest
that any further prosecution of the appealed claims before the examiner should include consideration of
applicable patent literature based on said application cited by Kawaai and of the ‘114 patent which
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