Appeal No. 2003-1463 Page 2
Application No. 09/536,341
BACKGROUND
The appellants’ invention relates to a system for spraying a powder coating
product and, more particularly, to an improvement seeking to eliminate lumps of powder
that can form and be entrained in the flow of air-powder mixture (specification, page 1).
In particular, appellants’ improvement is the provision of a flow chicane 62, formed by
an annular rib 63 and an annular groove 64 on facing faces of the cup 52 and deflector
54, in the narrow flow space 56 formed between the cup and deflector. A copy of the
claims under appeal is set forth in the appendix to the appellants’ brief.
The examiner relied upon the following prior art references of record in rejecting
the appealed claims:
Babka 1,620,625 Mar. 15, 1927
Ficker 3,061,200 Oct. 20, 1962
Schneider 4,838,487 Jun. 13, 1989
Chabert 5,353,995 Oct. 11, 1994
The following rejections are before us for review.
Claims 5-7 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by
Babka.
Claims 1-3 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Babka in view of Schneider.
Claims 1-7 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Chabert in view of Ficker.
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the examiner and
the appellants regarding the above-noted rejections, we make reference to the answer
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