Appeal No. 1999-2423
Application 08/825,204
Sharer 5,518,188 May 21,
1996
(effective filing date Jun. 30,
1994)
THE REJECTIONS
Claims 15-17 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Sharer in view of Hagguist.
OPINION
We reverse the aforementioned rejection.
Sharer discloses a purely mechanical process for
separating carpet fiber material from backing material
(abstract). For a disclosure of the appellants’ recited
chemical softening agent for the binder, the examiner relies
upon Hagguist (answer, page 4). Hagguist plasticizes a latex
binder and debonds it from carpet pile and backing by
subjecting the carpet to fluids, i.e., air, water, steam and
chemicals, under variable temperature, pressure, and direction
controls (col. 1, lines 45-50 and 56-63; col. 4, lines 1-5).
One type of chemical, Hagguist teaches, is a surfactant (col.
4, lines 13-14). Hagguist teaches (claims 9 and 14) that the
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