Appeal No. 1998-2040 Page 4
Application No. 08/420,077
antifreeze in a process of recovering glycol therefrom. While
Cox discloses the addition of a small amount of alkali metal
hydroxide to spent glycol containing dimethyl terepthalate1
impurities for catalyzing a reaction thereof with glycol
(paragraph bridging columns 3 and 4), the examiner has not
established where Cox alone or in combination with Chueh
teaches or suggests the use of such alkali metal hydroxide
addition in recovering glycol from used antifreeze. In this
regard, a need for catalyzing a reaction of dimethyl
terepthalate in used antifreeze is not apparent on this
record.
The mere fact that the prior art may be modified to
reflect features of the claims invention does not make the
modification obvious unless the desirability of such
modification is suggested by the prior art. The claimed
invention cannot be used as an instruction manual or template
to piece together the teachings of the prior art so that the
1Cox defines spent glycol as "ethylene glycol recovered
from processes for making and forming films and fibers of
linear polyesters, particularly the high molecular weight
linear polyesters made from ethylene glycol and terephthalic
acid or its derivatives, such as dimethyl terepthalate"
(column 1, lines 19-25).
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