Appeal No. 1997-3529 Page 4
Application No. 08/463,939
1655, 1657 (Fed. Cir. 1990); In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 1327,
231 USPQ 136, 138-39 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
All of the appealed claims require that the diesel fuel
composition includes water in an amount of from about 1 to
about 20 weight percent in addition to methanol and dimethyl
ether. The methanol content must not only be present in an
amount of from about 1 to 20 weight percent, but must also be
present in an amount relative to the amount of water present
as set forth in the minimum and maximum concentration formulas
set forth in appealed claim 1. According to appellants, such
constraints on the relative amounts of methanol and water in
the fuel composition result in the prevention of phase
separation and the avoidance of poor ignition properties
(specification, page 5, lines 1-26).
The examiner has not pointed to any disclosure in Gro$
that describes the water content of that patent’s disclosed
fuel mixture in any specified amount, let alone the herein
claimed amount. The examiner argues that "[w]ater
concentrations are known to be inherently present in ether and
methanol during production" (answer, page 4). However,
appellants have pointed out that Gro$ discloses that water
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