Appeal No. 1997-1298
Application No. 08/227,158
Kuhls' membrane in the Del Pico process would lead to the claimed polymer latex. Del
Pico teaches concentration of whitewater emulsion as a waste stream, not as a recovered
polymer latex product. The examiner has not recognized that the claimed "polymer latex"
must be of such a quality that it may be blended into the original latex "product" " at a level
of at least 5 weight percent with no deleterious effect upon performance properties of the
product." The examiner has not explained how the latex produced by either Del Pico or
Kuhls possesses this property. Nor has the examiner explained how the proposed
combinations of Del Pico and Kuhls will result in the production of such a latex.
The examiner argues that "the process limitations have no bearing whatsoever or
[sic, on] the product claim."8 This is not necessarily correct.9 As explained in the
paragraph bridging pages 10-11 of the specification, maintenance of laminar flow across
the ultrafiltration membrane results in a "gentler" treatment. In this way, appellants' process
avoids formulation of coagulum. It is the appearance of coagulum in the treated whitewater
product which apparently results in the product being unsuitable for reuse in the original
latex product. Thus, a product formed through use of appellants' process using "laminar"
conditions will expectedly differ in a positive manner from a product formed from a process
using "non-laminar" conditions. The former product can be used as recited in claim 22, the
latter presumably can not.
8 Examiner's Answer, page 5, first paragraph under section 13.
9 For example, it should be apparent that a cake made by mixing ingredients and baking the
same at 350E for 30 minutes will be substantially different from a cake mixing the same ingredients
7
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