Appeal No. 1999-1390
Application No. 08/655,783
Claims 1, 2, and 4 on appeal stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as unpatentable over Endmann.1 (Examiner’s answer,
pages 4-6.)
We reverse the aforementioned rejection. In addition, we
remand the application to the examiner for consideration of a
possible obviousness-type double patenting rejection of the
appealed claims over the claims of commonly assigned U.S.
Patent 5,739,252 issued to Kirchmeyer et al. (Kirchmeyer) on
April 14, 1998, copy attached.
The examiner's position is stated as follows:
The reference discloses the production of
thermoplastic polyurethanes by serially passing
diisocyanates, polyols, and chain extenders through
two static mixers, wherein an urethanating reaction
occurs within the mixers. See claims and pages 5-11
of the translation of DE 2823762. Though the
reference is silent regarding the claimed shear rates,
the position is taken that the shear rates are
inherent characteristics of the disclosed static
mixing process. However, even if the shear rates are
not inherent characteristics of the disclosed process,
the position is taken that it would have been obvious
to one of ordinary skill in the art to optimize the
respective shear rates of the static mixers, so as to
arrive at a process which causes homogeneous mixing
and reaction of the polyurethane and which prevents
accumulation of reaction product within the mixers.
[Examiner's answer, page 4; underscoring added.]
1 Like the examiner, we also rely on the English language
translation of Endmann as found in the record.
3
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