Appeal No. 2000-1267 Page 4
Application No. 08/843274
temperature sufficient to provide the energy required for good foam quality with repeatable
yield, prior to the step of mixing the previously separated precursors. The examiner has
taken the position that all of the steps in these two claims except for the heating step are
taught by Fitts, but that it would have been obvious to add the heating step to the Fitts
method in view of the teachings of Inoue. We find ourselves in agreement with the
appellants that the combined teachings of the two applied references would not have
suggested the claimed method to one of ordinary skill in the art. Our reasons for arriving at
this conclusion follow.
Fitts discloses a foam-making system in which precursors are kept in separate
bags until the foam is to be formed, whereupon the bags are breached to allow the
precursors to combine and form a foam within a container. There is no mention in Fitts of
warming the bags and/or the enclosed foam precursors at any point in the method, much
less doing so after they are placed in the bags and prior to being mixed.
Inoue is directed to a method of mixing packaged dental filling material. The
ingredients to be combined are in part liquid and in part powder, and are packaged in
separate bags. Immediately prior to the mixing step, the bags are broken to allow the
materials to be combined. The patent explains that the mixing of the ingredients causes
an exothermic reaction, that is, it generates heat, and it may be advantageous to control
the environmental temperature in order to hold this reaction to a moderate rate (column 7,
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007