Appeal No. 1998-0305
Application 08/385,110
capable of injecting hot water (answer, page 3), and the
appellants do not challenge the examiner on this point. Ohsol
is primarily concerned with minimizing foaming, when the
monomer is stripped from the emulsion polymerization latex,
without prolonged exposure of the latex to stripping
temperatures (col. 2, lines 31-45; col. 8, lines 60-75).
Ohsol does this by floating a layer of heavy anti-foam agent
such as lanolin or candelilla wax on each plate (col. 5, lines
28-31), using a disengaging space and water spray above the
top plate (col. 5, lines 51-59; col. 6, lines 35-43),
designing the column diameter for low vapor velocities (col.
5, lines 66-68), using a well controlled constant pressure in
the column (col. 5, lines 71-72), and removing most of the
light ends prior to introducing the latex into the stripping
column (col. 6, lines 3-6). Ohsol’s column differs from that
recited in the appellants’ claim 5 in that the inner diameter
of the uppermost section is not greater than that of the lower
section.
Thomson discloses a column for steam deodorizing fats and
oils (col. 1, lines 15-16; figure 1). The column has a
progressively increasing cross-sectional area in the upward
5
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