Appeal No. 1997-3056
Application No. 08/377,966
1. In apparatus for monitoring the concentration of
an airborne analyte appertaining to the family of substances
comprising lead, cadmium, zinc, chromium, uranium, or compounds
of these metals, miscellaneous carcinogens, and other toxic
contaminants, the improvement comprising;
a substantially gas- and liquid-impermeable container means;
means for introducing a substantially analyte-free liquid
extractant into said container means;
means for rapidly sampling ambient air at a rate of at least
100 liters/minute and collecting particulates therefrom into said
liquid extractant, said sampling means comprising an air intake
means and an air venting means;
means for solubilizing the analyte contained in said
particulates into a volume of not more than about 40 milliliters of
liquid extractant, wherein said sampling means and said
solubilizing means are both within the same enclosure and combined
in a single device;
means for removing from said container means an analyte-
enriched liquid extractant; and
means for estimating the concentration of the analyte in said
analyte enriched liquid extractant.
The following references have been applied by the Examiner in
the rejection before us on this appeal:
Zaromb et al. (Zaromb) 5,173,264 Dec. 22, 1992
DeAngelis et al. (DeAngelis) Anal. Chem., Vol. 48, No. 14:
pp. 2262-2263 Dec. (1976)
Heijne et al. (Heijne), Anal. Chem. Acta., 100 pp. 193-205 (1978)
Gunasingham et al. (Gunasingham), J. Electroanal. Chem,
186 pp. 51-61 (1985)
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