Interference No. 104,180
In a water heater having an upright cylindrical water tank with a flue pipe extending
therethrough, a cylindrical metal skirt extending downward from the cylindrical wall of said tank
for the support thereof, said skirt having a closed bottom end, and a gas burner positioned within
said skirt, the improvement comprising
1. a radiant gas burner in the form of a circular perforated ceramic flat plate
2. fitted in said skirt as a transverse partition spaced from the bottom of said tank to provide a
combustion zone and spaced from said closed bottom end of said skirt to provide a plenum
for fuel gas and air injected thereinto,
3. said ceramic flat plate having a diameter substantially equal to the inside diameter of said
skirt and
4. having perforations over its entire face except for a narrow rim portion
5. by which it is supported in said skirt,
6. refractory-type insulation surrounding said perforations as lining of said skirt between said
rim portion and the bottom end of said tank and exposed to said combustion zone, and
7. a venturi tube extending through said skirt into said plenum for the injection of said fuel gas
and air.
It is urged that the junior party developed elements 1, 3, 4 and 7 and disclosed them to the
senior party at the May 1, 1993 meeting.3 Elements 2 and 5 of the count describe using the
burner to partition the skirt into the combustion chamber and the plenum and, according to the
junior party at page 19, lines 14-17, this was an obvious construction given the large diameter of
the E burner. It is urged that element 6 is also obvious, depending on the use for which the
insulation is used.
The party Bartz further argues that because the senior party derived elements 1, 3, 4 and 7
of the count from Bartz, and added only elements which were well known in the art and which
would be obvious in view of Bartz’s disclosures, the senior party is not entitled to patent the
invention of the count. Bartz submits that for purposes of the senior party’s application, the
3 As noted below, Bartz also developed or conceived element 6 of the count prior to the meeting of May 1, 1997.
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