Appeal No. 2001-2354
Application No. 09/186,687
Claim 1 is drawn to a heat exchange device comprising, inter
alia, a support plate having a (1) first portion including a
plurality of holes adapted to serve as a header and (2) a second
portion having openings for receiving tubes of a second array
with a plurality of curved connectors, the second portion being
adapted to receive in a forced fit manner the tube of the second
array with said curved connectors.
We fully appreciate the highly relevant heat exchanger
teaching of Goetz (Fig. 8) revealing a header plate 130 with
inner tubes 126 and tubes 168 (Fig. 9a) passing therethrough,
with the outlet ends 172 of adjacent tubes 168 being joined by
crossover elbows 176 (Figs. 8 and 9). However, we do not
perceive that one having ordinary skill in the art would have
derived a suggestion from the Humpolik disclosure to alter the
heat exchanger of Goetz by providing a portion of the header
plate adapted to receive in a force fit manner the tubes 168 with
the crossover elbows. Simply stated, it is the view of this
panel of the Board that the pressure platen 6 in the heat
exchanger of Humpolik would not have been understood to be a
header (an apparent term of art) of a heat exchanger. Thus,
while the Humpolik patent would have been suggestive of relying
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