Appeal No. 2001-0379
Application No. 09/141,891 Page 8
page 4) of "a mere matter of designing the apparatus to suit
particular design requirements" to be a conclusionary statement
unsupported by any evidence in the record.
With respect to (b), we find that appellant's specification
discloses (pages 10 and 11) that:
The present invention apparatus enables the
detection of flammable gases in a very rapid
manner, for instance, within a time period of
0.5 second such that the flow of the gas mixture
can be shut-off immediately to avoid potential
hazard of fire or explosion.. . . A gas mixture
is fed into the reactor chamber at a high flow
speed of at least 5 meter/second, preferably at
a flow speed of at least 10 meter/second, and more
preferably at a flow speed of at least 15 meter/second.
The flow of the gas mixture into the reactor chamber is
induced by a high speed air pump connected to and in
fluid communication with a chamber cavity and a source
of the gas mixture.
Appellant asserts (brief, page 9) that “[t]he Appellant
respectfully submits that the criticality of the present
invention of being able to detect flammable gas in a very rapid
manner which is achieved by flowing a gas mixture into the
reaction chamber at a high flow speed of at least 5 meter/second
is not recognized by either Kern or Cox or in combination
thereof, let alone a solution proposed to such problem.” We
agree. Although Kern discloses the use of a low pressure switch
51, it is disclosed that "[t]he low pressure switch 51 serves to
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