Appeal No. 1998-0387
Application 08/566,192
unpatentable over the combination of Berman and Marchand,
since in line 14 of the claim is recited the step of “passing
the flue gas upwardly through an array of tubular condensing
heat exchangers . . .” (emphasis added). This differs from
the Berman system, where the gas is passed horizontally
through heat exchanger 14, and we find no teaching in Berman
or Marchand which would have suggested modifying the Berman
system to pass the gas “upwardly” through heat exchanger 14.
In view of the foregoing, rejection (1) will be sustained
as to claims 1 and 2, and reversed as to claims 7 and 8
(dependent on claim 7).
Rejection (2)
The rejection of claim 10 will be sustained. Warren’s
teachings of the advantages of covering the tubes of heat
exchangers used in a flue gas scrubber with a fluoroplastic
polymer such as Teflon (e.g., col. 2, lines 14 to 18, and col.
3, lines 61 to 66) would readily have suggested to one of
ordinary skill the application of such a coating to the heat
exchanger tubes 26 of Berman. Contrary to appellants’
argument (brief, pages 19 to 20), the fact that Warner’s heat
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