Appeal No. 1998-1493
Application No. 08/377,861
exhaust. However, it appears not to meet the second "means"
requirement of creating a low pressure area proximal the
chamber inlet, for there is no explicit teaching to this
effect in the patent, and there seems to be no reason to
assume that this would inherently be the case in view of the
fact that Aronsohn teaches that combustion takes place at the
upstream end of the turbulator.
Further consideration of the teachings of Sabet, which
was cited for its disclosure of using platinum as a catalyst
in an
exhaust gas steam, does not alleviate the problems elucidated
in the several preceding paragraphs with regard to the other
two references.
For the reasons set forth above, we conclude that the
combined teachings of the three references applied by the
examiner fail to establish a prima facie case of obviousness
with respect to the subject matter recited in independent
claim 1. This being the case, we will not sustain the
rejection of claim 1 or, it follows, of claims 2-7, which
depend therefrom.
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