Appeal No. 1998-2354
Application 08/054,588
the height of cooked lignocellulose materials in the digester
are used to discharge the cooked lignocellulose materials
(abstract; col. 4, lines 19-39). Edlund teaches that use of
pump discharge has a number of disadvantages caused by the
presence of coarse particles such as wood pieces, stones and
concrete clods (col. 2, lines 17-31).
The examiner acknowledges that it appears that Tsai’s
pulp is transported by a conventional apparatus such as a pump
or a screw conveyor (answer, page 4). The examiner argues
that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to use Edlund’s gas pressure in Tsai’s method to
eliminate capital and operating costs associated with a pump.
See id. The examiner argues that since Tsai’s contactor is
under pressure of up to 100 psig, one of ordinary skill in the
art would have used that pressure to transport the pulp rather
than using the optional off-gassing of the oxygen (answer,
pages 7-8; supplemental answer, page 2).
In order for a prima facie case of obviousness to be
established, the teachings from the prior art itself must
appear to have suggested the claimed subject matter to one of
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