Appeal 97-1939
Application 08/375,049
agent which may be ammonium hydroxide (col. 4, lines 5-6).
According to Porter (col. 4, lines 9-21):
The ammonia is not part of the coating powder; it is
added after suspending the coating powder in water
for about ½ hour, and before the spraying step. The
coating suspension may be sprayed without adding the
anti-coalescing agent, but there may be clogging
problems if the spray equipment becomes too hot. If
the anti-coalescing agent is added to the coating
suspension, the coating suspension will not begin to
coalesce and clog the spray apparatus until the
temperature reaches about 60EC., whereas without the
anticoalescing agent the coating suspension may
start to coalesce and clog the spray apparatus when
the temperature reaches about 27E-30EC.
Examiner's rationale
The examiner reasons that it would have been obvious to
include ammonium hydroxide in the enteric coatings of Pagay.
According to the examiner (Examiner's Answer, pages 3-4):
While Pagay *** do[es] not mention any clogging
problem, it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art to add an anti-coalescing
agent such as ammonium hydroxide as disclosed by
Porter *** since the spray temperature [of Pagay] is
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Last modified: November 3, 2007