Appeal No. 1998-1736
Application 08/282,847
Snaper, the primary reference, discloses apparatus for
separating gas from a flowing liquid, there being a conduit
10b having a chamber 14 on one side with a bubble (gas)
permeable valve 16, 17, 18, and two ultrasonic transducers
22a, b at the other side of the conduit, the operating
frequency being “selected so as to acoustically match the
cavity and fluid combination to the transducer power output
unit in order to provide for optimum efficiency” (col. 3,
lines 30 to 33). Zenner discloses apparatus for separating a
mixture of two gases, liquids, or finally divided solids (col.
3, lines 35 to 39). In the simplest embodiment (Fig. 1), the
mixture to be separated is introduced at 10 into a horn 11
having a sound generator 12 at one end and a reflector 17 at
the other, the frequency and phase being adjusted to produce a
standing wave (col. 2, lines 65 to 68). This causes
separation of the mixture into light and heavy components,
removed from the horn at 19 and 18, respectively.
The examiner takes the position that (Answer, page 5):
it would have been readily obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art to employ reflector surfaces positioned
8
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