Appeal No. 1999-1136
Application No. 08/771,373
other words, there are no test data showing to what extent the
life of a high-density PBN coated boat is increased over the
life of a lower-density PBN coated boat. Absent such data,
there is no basis for concluding that the 2.19 to 2.2 gm/cc
range claimed by appellants is critical and yields unexpected
results vis-a-vis the 1.99 to 2.20 gm/cc range disclosed by
Basche.
Accordingly, rejection (1) will be sustained.
Rejection (2)
At page 9 of their brief, appellants acknowledge that
Tanji teaches the use of plural PBN layers, but argue that it
does not teach the arrangement of PBN layers recited in claim
3.
We note initially that claim 3 does not require that only
the outside layer of PBN be of high density, as appellants
seem to assume, but rather is inclusive of structure in which
all the layers are high density PBN. Since Tanji discloses
that PBN which is vapor deposited at 1850-2100° C. forms a
laminar structure (col. 1, lines 35 to 44), having plural
layers as shown in Fig. 1, the boat of Morris, coated in the
manner disclosed by Basche, would inherently have a layered
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