Appeal No. 1997-0159
Application 08/172,579
molten metal bath to be lower than the saturation limit for carbon of the bath at the operating
conditions of the molten metal bath. See step (b) of appealed claim 1. Significantly, as set
forth in the preamble of appealed claim 1 and specifically in step (c), conditions are
established and maintained in the molten metal bath to cause cleavage of at least one carbon-
carbon bond of the hydrocarbon component of the feed to produce unsaturated organic
compounds as products of the cleavage of appellants' reforming process.
As evidence of obviousness of the herein claimed invention, the examiner relies on
Nagel. The examiner correctly ascertained that Nagel teaches a process for decomposing
various organic compounds including hydrocarbons by contact with a molten metal bath
comprising metals. The examiner acknowledges, however, that Nagel does not disclose that
any unsaturated organic compounds are produced in any reaction described or suggested in
Nagel. However, the examiner contends that it would have been obvious to a person of
ordinary skill in this art to “optimize the reaction conditions so as to maximize the desired
effluent by routine experimentation.” See pages 3 and 4 of the final rejection entered as Paper
No. 10.
As pointed out in appellants' Brief, the examiner's stated rejection is problematical in a
number of aspects. First, unlike the presently claimed invention which is directed to a
reforming process, Nagel contains no disclosure of reforming hydrocarbon feedstreams.
Indeed, Nagel's method is specifically disclosed as useful for dealing with hazardous waste
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