Appeal No. 1998-2040 Page 3
Application No. 08/420,077
forth in the reply brief, we determine that the aforementioned
§ 103 rejection is not well founded. Accordingly, we will not
sustain the examiner's rejection. We add the following for
emphasis.
Chueh describes a method for recovering glycol from
mixtures of glycol and carboxylate esters thereof using an
azeotroping agent and azeotropic distillation. The examiner
does not allege that Chueh discloses the use of an alkali
metal hydroxide additive in their disclosed distillation
process. Rather, the examiner relies on Cox for an alleged
teaching of adding alkali metal hydroxide to a spent glycol-
containing fluid (answer,
page 3). According to the examiner, "[o]ne having ordinary
skill in the art would have been led to employ the alkali
metal hydroxide of Cox et al, for the recovery of glycol, in
the process of Chueh motivated by a reasonable expectation of
success" (sentence bridging pages 3 and 4 of the answer). We
disagree.
As developed in appellants' reply brief, neither of the
applied references alone or in combination teaches or suggests
the addition of an alkali metal hydroxide additive to used
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