Appeal No. 1998-2424
Application 08/515,269
Turning first to a consideration of claim 20, we are in
agreement with the examiner’s finding that the admitted prior
art establishes the obviousness of a method, including the
steps of providing a container with an open top and closed
bottom, placing an appliance into the container, filling the
container with a sterilant, and cleaning the appliance by
placing the container in an ultrasonic sterilizer. The
admitted prior art does not include the step of lining the
container with a bacteriologically impermeable sheath, nor
does it address the step of disposing of the sheath after the
appliance has been cleaned. With respect to Boston and Frew,
while these patents disclose liners for containers, we noted
that no processing, cleaning, or any reaction is undergone in
the container while lined by these disposable liners. The
teachings of Boston and Frew are merely for lining a
container; there is no disclosure of lining a reaction chamber
where some process is to take place.
On the other hand, Fortin teaches a thermoplastic
cylindrical container which can be either a rigid,
freestanding container for use as a substitute for a beaker,
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007