Smith’s invention was directed to a glossy water-based emulsion paint. According to Smith,
prior art water-based paints tended to be “flat” in appearance. To provide a more glossy appearance,
Smith’s invention employed a pigment whose surface was coated in such a way that it would be wholly
wetted by the oil phase of the emulsion and not permitted to migrate into the water phase. Id. at 1390,
173 USPQ at 679-680. Claim 1 of Smith read as follows:
1. An emulsion coating composition comprising essentially
a continuous aqueous phase and
a discontinuous water insoluble oil phase containing dispersed in said
discontinuous phase a pigment which is surface coated with an organic compound
effective to render said pigment oilophilic,
said organic compound being a monomeric organic compound characterized by
at least one non-polar organic hydrophobic group containing at least 8 carbon
atoms in a hydrocarbon structure, which group in the form of its monocarboxylic acid is
soluble in oleoresinous varnishes and insoluble in water,
and at least one polar group,
said organic compound adhering to said pigment surface when said coated
pigment is emulsified,
said coating having been applied to said pigment prior to emulsification thereof
and prior to dispersion of said pigment in said oil phase,
and said discontinuous pigmented phase being capable of forming a continuous
solid glossy film when dried.
Id. at 1390-91, 173 USPQ at 680, emphasis added.
As support for the claimed organic compound, Smith cited the following portion from the 1947
application:
The treatment of pigments with polar agents is not new per se and can be accomplished
by several methods employing a variety of effective compounds. In general these
methods involve surface coating the pigment with an oil soluble polar organic
compound. Among the polar organic compounds are acidic resins, water soluble
resinates, water insoluble metallic resinates, long chain fatty acids, their salts and soaps,
benzene carboxylic acid and its salts, naphthenic acids and their soaps and salts,
cationic active agents, e.g., alkyl amine salts and quaternary ammonium compounds
containing at least 12 carbon atoms in an alkyl group or groups, e.g., lauryl pyridinium
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