Appeal No. 1997-1598
Application 08/456,699
claim, requires a path defining means in the inlet channel for
effecting spiral rotational movement of the liquid or
suspension in the inlet channel so that gas starts to separate
from the liquid or suspension within the spiral path. The
point in the spiral path at which the gas separation begins
can be at the very end of the path. Furthermore, the claim is
open to the spiral movement and initiation of the gas
separation being caused by the combined
action of the path defining means and rotation of the blades
on the flange, provided that the initial gas separation takes
place in the spiral path.
The examiner, however, has provided no evidence or
technical reasoning which establishes that the EP ‘387 spiral
strip 100 and impeller 105 are sufficiently close that, at the
conditions under which the apparatus is capable of operating,
the impeller and spiral strip can cause spiral flow and can
cause gas separation in some portion of the spiral flow
region. Although the impeller is disclosed as being
immediately downstream of the spiral strip (col. 10, lines 41-
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