Appeal No. 2004-0800
Application No. 08/362,547
pentane or hexane as the blowing agent in applications where
thermal insulation is not a consideration.
Appellants rely upon the Friederichs Declaration to
demonstrate that the examples of Volkert which use water as a
blowing agent produce a foam having a brittle surface, whereas
the elimination of water results in a foam exhibiting strong
shrinkage and less dimensional stability. However, appellants
have proffered no objective evidence which establishes that the
declaration results would have been unexpected to one of ordinary
skill in the art. Indeed, it would appear that appellants
acknowledge that it was known in the art that water causes
surface brittleness. In particular, appellants state that "water
is known to cause surface brittleness in foams due to the
reaction between the isocyanate and water which results in the
elimination of carbon dioxide" (page 5 of Brief, third
paragraph). Appellants' specification, at page 1, also indicates
that this was known in the art.
Also, significantly, the Declaration does not establish that
processes within the broad scope of the appealed claims produce
unexpected results. For the reasons set forth in the prior Board
decision (see pages 5-6), appellants' specification data, which
is not relied upon in the present appeal, falls far short of
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