Appeal No. 1998-0294
Application No. 08/318,726
independent claim 1 by upper and lower water tanks, a
plurality of hollow yarn bodies formed of heat resistant and
hydrophilic material which fluidly communicates with the water
tanks and has an external surface that is exposed to a flow of
air, and a plurality of thin metal heater wires disposed on
the external surface of the hollow yarns bodier for heating
the thin water film that forms on each for promoting
evaporation therefrom.
It is the examiner’s view that all of the subject matter
recited in claim 1 is found in the Japanese reference, except
for the thin heating wires on the outside of the hollow yarn
bodies. However, the examiner states that such a heating
means for an evaporator is taught by Schladitz, and concludes
that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to replace the internal heaters disclosed in the
Japanese system with external wires. We do not agree.
The Japanese reference discloses a system in which a
stream of air flows from a cooling unit through a humidifier
on its way to cool a space. The humidifier comprises a
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