Appeal No. 1999-2775 Application No. 08/549,847 Looking first to the broader independent claim 13, we note that this claim sets forth an apparatus for sanding or polishing a surface, wherein the apparatus comprises a motor (1) including a body and a working head (2) mounted on said body, said working head including means for attachment of an abrasive or polishing material (5) to said working head; a feed line means for directing a cold gas flow to the surface to be treated; and means for feeding a cold gas flow to the feed line means comprising a vortex tube (8) adjacent said working head and a compressed gas line (18), said vortex tube having an outlet opening communicating with said feed line means, and having an inlet end connected to said compressed gas line. Like the examiner, we observe that Lubbering '242 discloses an apparatus similar to that set forth in claim 13 on appeal, with the exception that Lubbering '242 does not disclose or teach a means for feeding a cold gas flow to the feed line means (3, 9) therein which comprises "a vortex tube adjacent said working head," as in appellants' claim 13. At column 3, lines 11-13, Lubbering '242 indicates that the term cold gas as used in that patent "refers to a cold air which has been cooled by suitable means to temperatures substantially lower than minus 20° C." Lubbering '242 goes on to indicate that an advantageous way of providing 4Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007