Appeal No. 1999-0990
Application No. 08/647,562
set forth below.
OPINION
The examiner finds that Maeda discloses the claimed
water-soluble hemicellulose as extracted under acidic
conditions at a pH near the isoelectric point of soybean
protein (Answer, page 3). Appellants agree with this finding
that Maeda discloses a process for production of water-soluble
vegetable fibers containing hemicellulose (see the Answer,
page 4; Brief, page 12; Reply Brief, page 6). The examiner
further finds that Salzberg teaches the use of soybean seed
meal as a binder for foundry sand molds (Answer, page 3).
This finding is also not contested by appellants (Brief, pages
9 and 13; Reply Brief, pages 6-7).
In view of these findings and the teaching of Maeda that
the hemicellulose material has superior adhesive properties,
the examiner concludes that it would have been obvious to one
of ordinary skill in the art at the time of appellants’
invention to use the water-soluble hemicellulose of Maeda as a
binder for foundry sand molds (Answer, page 3).
Appellants argue that the combination of references is
improper as there is no motivation to combine them (Brief,
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